Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-04-28
j. "DO not 6re-the redskins are all

wen. "Do not fre-the redskins are all
down."
The door few open. "Harryl is it you?"
And Sarah Paris dropped the useless rifle
from her hands.
To him it was almost, of course, that it
should be she. For all these many days,
his terror had been the agonized question,
where was she, in the midst of these horrors.
For her, it was as if he had fallen from the
sky.
But there was not an instant for curiosity.
He seized her gun, and turned to the groups
behind him. But here his help was not
needed. The boldness of the sally had sue
ceeded. One of the Indians had been
stabbed to the heart by Cephas Titcomb in
the first blow which he gave. The other
had fallen heavily against an untrimmed
stump, and had been for the moment stunned
by the blow. Nathan Choate had both his
hands around the mans neck, and both his
thumbs squeezed tight upon his windpipe.
Clendenin's fall upon the other two had
perhaps discomposed Choate at first as much
as the other. But Clendenin was wiry and
quick, and before Curwen could come into
the fray, he and Cephas Titcomb had pin
ioned the fallen warrior. At the moment,
no one knew that one and another musket
ball struck here and there around them.
But, after it was over, Titcomb found
stream of blood running down his leg, and
knew for the first time that shot had
grazed his side, cutting open his hunting
shirt, and. as he said, "lettin' down my
braces" No one stopped yet to speak even
except in a word. Led by Curwen, all
rushed to the other end of the
house. But here they only met
the Scotchman with Zapoly and Rachel
Clendenin; the others had kept themselves
sheltered in the wood. Rachel herself was
the only person who showed any prudence;
it was she who had led them around to that
side of the cabin where they would be under
cover
Harry Curwen had no experience for the
occasion. Strange to say, Cephas Titcomb,
the Newbury ship builder, was the born sol
dier now, who directed the reloading of the
empty guns who stationed each man at the
right point, at the same time taking care
that the prisoners were dragged into the
shelter of the cabin. The skulking soldiers
condescended to appear after all firing was
over. And it was clear enough after five
minutes that the outlying Indian scouts had
abandoned their posts and fled. The two
men at the window had both been wholly
surprised. One of them lay dead-killed by
pistol shot; the other was prisoner.
A rapid council was held as to pursuit of
the disappointed red men. There were but
three of them, or at most four. OF the
whites of both parties there were eight, be-
sides the two Titcomb boys. The party sur
prised in the cabin were the Titcomb family,
with Sarah Paris and Choate, who was
spending the winter there. Only four or
five shots had been delivered by the Indians
watching outside. Rachel Clendenin had
been studying their trail for hours. She
was sure that there were never but eight of
them. Two Of them were here, bound hand
and foot; two of them lay dead in front of
the house and one behind. Should the vic
tors follow the fugitives, and save the neigh
borhood from further danger?
Zapoly offered some unintelligible advice.
Harry Curwen was confused-from some
doubt as to his duty as a soldier. But, as
has been said, he was no longer the COM
mander. Cephas Titcomb took the word.
"No, boy, let we'll enough alone. We'd
better thank the Almighty that you come
here Jest when We did, and not one minute
later. Et was the bullet that struck Bull
skin when his ak was raised-et was that
that settled this fight. And think, sir, so
fur as / understand, that ct was you that
fred that shot for bird on the wing
He turned to Zapoly-and he was right
| His prompt and exact workmanship had
turned the fortune of the day.
Then, in a rapid consultation, the ar
rangements for the night were perfected
| Cephas Titeomb, the younger, and his
| brother were sent to warn the settlers at Big
Bottom of the attack and escape and de-
| fense. When, not two months after, the
horrible massacre took place in the block
house of that very settlement, the boys re-
membered well every detail of their visit of
that evening. For Cephas Titcomb, the
father, his wife and Zapoly and the Scotch
! gardener took care. For himself, he ridiculed
the fuss they made, and said If they would
let him alone he shonld do we'll enough.
! But they were right and he was wrong;
and zapoly dressed the wound with the
skill of a surgeon. Harry could not yet
have more than word with Sarah Paris.
The horses were to be cared for, the dead
were to be dragged away and hidden, the
captives were to be secured. 1t was easy
enough to make provision, on the great
mows of prairie hay, for better beds than
the fugitives had known since the day OF
battle and defeat. When such cares for the
men were over, Curwen saw, we'll pleased,
that Zapoly had engaged Mrs. Titcomb in a
bi-lingual, not to say polyglot, conversa-
ton. And then, and not till then, he begged
the girl he worshiped to come out from the
cabin with him, with some shawl thrown
over her head and shoulders, and they
walked together, in the open air, under the
light of the clear moon.
''Sarah," he said at once "my own child
if 1 dare say SOL have been riding day
and night in terror-and think with what
reasons. Do not tell me God Almighty did
not send me here"
No, she did not tell him so. She could
saw nothing. Nor, indeed, was he dissatis-
fed with her silence. Words are but poor
things sometimes-not very good things al
the best. He was with her. If he dared
and he would dare soon-he could put his
arm around her waist. Meanwhile, why
should she speak. or he? Last night, if any
one had told him she was alive, he would
have been happy.
Actually they walked without word tc
! the landing at the riverside, where the rem
nant of the old ark was still moored. He led
her on board the boat and made her sit on
the gunwale.
And then-he did not say what he had
thought he should say if God ever gave him
sight of her again. He said:
"How many of these old arks passed as
came down the river"
"You passed this one" said Sarah. And
the humor of his missing her came across
even the tragedy of the night, and, perhaps,
tor the first time, she smiled. "I knew
when you passed us; am ashamed to say I
waved my handkerchief at you. And I
wish could say you replied"
Think of it, he said, ''and that 1 did
not dream of what 1 was doing" Then
he told, almost passIonately now, of his
successive visits to Marietta, and how Gen
eral Putnam would say "Whitcomb" in
stead of ''Titcomb," and that he had tc
leave when he had no answer to the ques
tion of questions.
But for all this neither of them cared. 1t
Il