The Washington herald., 1915-08-29
Edited by MARY MARSHALL
OLD SOILS
TOMAHAWK|
By w. A. BUCHANAN.

the next time We came, and now here
we are"
| He took down the tomahawk from
where it hung over the fireplace II
was OF the ordinary Indian pattern.
Some fifty odd years ago." said he,
I wer hunting near here. when the
1ntuns broke out on the war path,
and the few white men there wer about
hurried on to. Fort Chambers-myself
among the number. It wer only a log
fort, with log wall or stockade about
II; but once inside it we wer safe
enough for the time being
The 1njuns, however, turned out to
be more numerous than we at first
had thought; and not bein' able, on
that account. to get any supplies sent
us from the towns to the south, we
by-and-by began to run short of food.
We wer consequently forced to make
sallies now and agin, and hunt for
game. right, as one might say, under
the noses Of our enemies.
What with huntin' and blazin' away
more or less continually at the Red
skins. our powder soon began to run
low. and a small party. of which I
was one. volunteered to try and get
through to the towns and fetch some
back with US.
We'll. we got through eastern we'd
expected. and started on our ffty-mile
tramp back through the woods, each
lman-there wer four Of us-with a keg
of powder on his shoulders
What with delays from various
causes-and havin' sometimes to go
miles out of our way to avoid the
pesky Injuns-we made such slow
progress that 4 week after leaving
the town We were still about ten
miles from the fort. Then. when we
wer almost in sight of the place. we
found we'd somehow got right in
among the Redskins There was a
party in front of US: another a short
distance to the right; and a third
one not half mile to the left
TT was in the autumn. and the
leaves were lyin' tick on the ground: ::
so what did we dc ,ut cover our kegs
over with a huge pile Of them. and
start for the fort empty-handed. so to
| speak.
/ Turning slightly to the right we
crawled forward on our hands and
hHccS oUiy 70 iHu ourselves, nail an
hour later. overlooking a camp fire
not twenty PAGES in front of US. AL
most in a moment. a dozen or more
forms sprang about US: and seein' as
'twer no use to try and escape with
so many other enemies within call of
these, we threw down our guns and
surrendered with as good a grace as
possible.
| Presently one Of the chiefs. whom
knew slightly. came oyer to have a
look at US. He recognized me at once.
| and saluted me with grunt.
| why you come here?" said he
LAS I didn't care to explain mat
:ers, l kept silent. Somewhat to my
| surprise, he seemed sorry 1 had been
captured.
| You no ought to come here said
he. Now we have to kill you
| LAS we pretended not to care what
happened. the chief told us that our
torture would not begin till the fol-
lowing morning. for which news we
were very grateful. He then told the
| squaws to leave US alone, and strode
of among the trees.
"By-and-by. just after sunset. rain
began to fall heavily. and the squaws
and Injuns hurried to the trees for
shelter. leaving US in the open, by the
| fire Well. the rain made the fire throw
| out such thick clouds of steam and
1 smoke that we wer almost blinded,
and / began to wish that the storm
| would either leave of or else hurry
up and put the fire out altogether.
'On glancing round to find how
things wer goin' on, found couldn't
see a yard before me. I don't know
what put the idea in my head: but
inside Of about two seconds afterwards
I'd rolled over to the nre. and raking
out a big piece Of wood that wer still
burning away and smoking. I held the
cords that bound my wrists tightly
against it. The cords. bein' wet, kept
putin the hre out wher touched the
wood; but by shifting my wrists about
from one place to another. and not
being very particular as to whether I
scorched myself or not. managed IN
time to get my hands free. Arter
that. It didn't take me long to get the
cords OF my ankles and go back to
where my three companions lay. In
another minute or two we were all at
liberty.
The first thing we thought Of was
them kegs Of powder. and we decided
that. IL the storm kept on. we'd about
as good an opportunity of gettin'
them to the fort as we'd ever be like
ly to have. So we crawled back to
where we'd left them, and. taking them
on our backs as before, started for
the fort.
But IL the storm and the darkness
kept the Injuns from seeing US, 1t
also kept us from KNOWN where they
wer. besides making walking power
full bad. Then we'd no weapons Of
any kind and IL IL came to a fight we
were tolerably certain to be taken
again. even II we'd only four or hve
Redskins against us
I'D been huntin' a good many years.
even then. young as / wer. but I'd
never before been In anything like so
tight q corner. In order to avoid run
ming into the Injuns again. we had to
halt about every fifty yards. and leave
the kegs and do q bit Of scoutin' all
round u.s. Then we'd 60 on again fer
. short distance. and soI on. The