Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-04-14


era p-books, which Sarah had dipped into
alre ady; and there was Of course long talk
on the mysterious future before them. Sarah
never forgot her promise to kind Parson
Cutler that she would collect and dry plants
for him, to send back if she ever had an op-
portunity; and all the boatmen and all the
children were eager in bringing contri-
buttons to her from the treasures, wholly
new, of the woodland and meadow land as 1t
opened upon them. Long letters home were
written to take the chance Of conveyance by
q returning emigrant. But they were with
in 20 miles of Fort Harmar before anything
occurred which could be called an adven-
ture
They had tethered the boat a little earlier
than usual, when three rifle shots, fred to-
gether, called their attention to the other
side of the river, and here they saw the
women of another party-people who by
this time they knew perfectly well-waving
a flag, and evidently beckoning to them.
In the courtesies of ark life, these other
emigrants had kept up very friendly rela-
tions with our party. More than once they
had sbreakfasted together, and often one
party had "spent the day. with the other.
This waving of the flag was simply an in
vitation that our friends should come across
the river to cup of tea. Probably the
hunters had brought in a deer out of season,
or, perhaps, a stray wild turkey.
Cephas1T 1Titcomb hesitated about accept
ing the invitation. but the boys were eager
to go, and after some hesitancy he gave his
consent that they and Mary might go, as
Sarah said she would go with them and
take care of them. For Sarah was accredited
the best boatman of the party, as well she
might be, knowing all the intricacies of
Salem and Marblehead harbor, and well
able to pull dory through the surf on any
beach in the bay. To be sure, she knew,
and Cephas Titcomb knew, that all this had
nothing to do with the management of q
dug-out, but at the same time he would
have been ashamed of his own boys if they
could not paddle the dug-out across theriver
and back at any time of the day or night,
and the presence of Sarah was rather pre-
caution of prudence that all persons would
be home early enough, than it was COM
pliment to her powers of navigation. So
the boys hair was brushed, their Sunday
hats were put on, Mary was properly ar
rayed for visit, and the four started in the
rude canoe, Sarah in the stern and the two
boys padding. When they came into the
proper current of the river, they found it
faster than they had expected. 1t happened
that at the same moment, an unexpected squall
struck them from the northwest, so that
they could not take their course so perfectly
direct to the other ark as they had proposed.
Sarah bade the boys let the head fall off
little, and told them that they would easily
enough work up in the eddy of the southern
shore. So, in fact, they would have done;
she was rightly maneuvering her little ves-
sci, and was passing one of the little islands
on the south side of the river, when Cephas,
by some accident or carelessness, lost his
stroke. The boat swerved little too near
the shore and struck into the top of fallen
tree which projected several yards into the
water. On the instant she rolled over and
all of them were swimming. The current
ran very fast. and they found the bottom of
the boat "fearfully slippery" as Mary Tit
comb said afterward.
They could get no hold upon it, and
Sarah herself said afterwards that she
doubted whether it helped them or hindered
them most. But, as the younger Cephas
said, he did not want to lose the boat. He
seemed to be Indifferent, even to careless
ness, to any risk of his own life, but seeing
in moment that neither his sister or Sarah
were in any fear OF sinking, he bade them
shelter themselves on the island and said he
would go down with the boat, turn it over
at the first chance, and bring it back to
them. His brother determined to hold on
in the same adventure, and the girls, thus
losing their escort, looked about for some
means of working their way in under the
willows to the shore.
"Never fear, Mary. Come with me, come
with me, and turning on her back, Sarah
struck out boldly to the point which
obeyed her, and in less than minute they
found themselves clutching to the arms of
fallen willow. OF course the branches
tangled themselves in their dresses, but
after a little dragging and pulling and
tearing, they dragged themselves along till
their feet struck the sand, and in an instant
more were out of the water upon the shore.
At such time, the first feeling, to per-
son who has never undergone the experience
before, is surprise at the possible wetness of
clothing. After that comes gratitude or in
dignation or hope or fear. In the present
case, Sarah laughed and poor little Mary
cried. But the elder girl took possession of
the other in an instant, pulled off the outer
wraps, which were not very heavy on that
July evening, and began to wiring the water
from them. The sun was already down,
and she was doubtful how their night would
take care of itself, but she pushed along
under the bushes and through the tangle as
well as she might to see what sort of an
island had changed her into Robinson
Crusoe, A minute more, and her questions
were all answered. There were evident
signs of human presence, logs had been cut,
and she could see the stumps of fallen trees
She pressed on with her little charge, and
in a moment more came out upon what was
half a tent and half cabin, with q little
smoke rising behind it, full in the face of
the first Indian women whom she had ever
seen in her life.
Once more the interview had not tine ter
ror which she would have said would have
attached to it, had one asked her that morn
ing how she would like to meet two squaWs
The consciousness that there was bit of
fire where that wet child could be dried
quite overcame her fear of tomahawk and
scalping knife. And while she was inward
ly aware that she ought to be conciliating
these queens of the soil, if such they were,
Sarah once more broke out into uncontrol-
liable laughter.
To tell the truth, the queens of the soil
had not much Of the aspect either of Boa
dicea or of Zenobia, or of any other mistress
of mankind. They were very dirty, their
faces were very heavy and stupid, the black
hair which fell around their very dark faces
was tangled and matted, each of them was
wrapped in blanket which seemed never
to have been white or yellow, and each of
them was smoking a corncob pipe. The first
though OF which the girl was really con-
scious was one which had nothing to do
with the circumstances in which she found
herself. 1t was this question: "Why in
the world do people cali these Indians cop
per colored? and why did that Major Denny
call them Yellow" Indeed her own feeling
was that they were very black, and of the
color of dirt or smoke, whatever that color
might be. But an instant was enough for
these critical considerations, Essex-bred,
and the girl, assuming her most friendly at