The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1908-10-03


known. The time of his disappearance
was early sfternnoon, one spring day OF
Station were either making their spinning
wheels sing or were themsel Ives singing
TO restless babies; the men all out hunting the
| children were playing in the fort yard. And all
around this frail little settlement lay the beautiful
| 1ndian-haunted wolf-haunted wilderness of Ken
! Somewhere out in that wilderness was Toddes,
but his m moth. did no, know it-yet little tile
not seem to Offer adequate protection against saw
age enemies, brute or human but it is far far better
Presently Mrs. Hamilton looked up from her
foddies He was the prettiest, ehubbest BIT Of
boy in the settlement hardy little frontiersman.
with tn . sunny smile and laughing blue eyes,
The, call grew louder and louder. 1t rang all
.na edsen ao until ese bo
hld see on M at sen to the snd s
swept all the country within sight from the tops of
the corner bloekhouses. Ben laid his strong brown
hand on his mothers arm and said quietly:
II reckon II go and find Toddles"
take me tool" "And me' "And mer "And
Every boy who was able to carry "gun' had
OF their mothers and the little ones 1t was rarely
that ali the left the fort once; they did SO
only when there no Indian signs" about. And
upon such occasions great responsibility rested
the older boys who were left behind
preparation departure
his fathers dog, spot" who had been left at home
as part Of the garrison Spot had been discovered,
sick and hal. famished in deserted Indian camp,
kind were rarity. Blu. the animal quickly proved
himself a valuable member of the settlement: He
Indian-trained tracking dog, silent as a
cat and as keen on the scent as deer. Already
he had found several strayed horses and cows now
Mrs. Hamilton herself held the little home-spun
iroek to the dogs nose. and made him sniff at the
bed where Toddles had slept; and it was she who
~. hod 11ad
seemed to understand He was eager to be off, and
submitted patiently to being held in leash by
When the heavy fort gate had closed upon Ben,
Mrs. Hamilton fastened to the top of blockhouse,
and from this 1t 1--WE she oo ed ssgar a down
the mothers grief and fear were for the moment
almost forgotten in the mothers pride.
What man Ben looked! How tall and strong
and brave he for lad of sixteen. How quick
and keen his eye as he glanced now in this direc-
How grave and m his face he esmy
watched the finding of the scent stopped to examine
trail that led into that itiess, terrible foresti
But scarcely had the trail been found than Ben
stopped and turned about His look rested full on
his mothers face, and bright smile broke the
gravity of his own. Mrs. Hamilton leaned far over,
smiling also she waved her hand he turned again,
ard she watched until the plunge into the forest
taken. Then, the green foliage and the deep
shadows closed about the gallant young figure in
blue huntng-shirt and buckskin leggings, the poor
mother dropped her face in her hands and wept bit
terly. Thus one of the found her, and led
her down, speaking words of comfort which she
could only hope might come true. It seemed only
too probable that neither of the lads would ever
come home again.
Ben had been alone in the forest before. but
his father had taken him many hunting trip and
had trained the boy in that difficult art of wood
craft necessary to every frontiersman. And
almost at the outset Ben made discovery which
the blood to his head and bright CLEAN to his eye
1t was simply the faint impress of moccasned foot
in wet earth. This clue to his brothers fate Ben
found on the bank of the stream which just at
the edge of the settlement clearing.
On this bank, also, many prints of small
bare feet. Toddles had been playing there. And it
clear that the child had little way to
escape that dreaded sight of painted red which
had suddenly appeared before him. 1t was doubtless
in the hea of pursuit that the Indian had been so
cautious to set his foot where any trace" would
be left.
Ben and Spot found the exac. place where that
ptully chase had ended. Then the lad
dog should make straight for-something which had
been Toddles. Frontier boys saw terrible things in
those days, and Ben knew the end Indians often
made of the little children they captured He did
not fear anything now to upon the thing
his fancy pictured.
But the dog ran about uncertainty. The Indian
had probably stepped with Toddles into the bed Of
the stream, for there no scent to follow
Thi. conclusion gave Ben momentary sensation
OF relief. Perhaps the red man intended to make
the child captive rather than to slay him. But had
be gone up stream DOWN.