The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1917-02-24
CHAPTER XIV.
On Wildcat Creek.

to David and left him without hop
or aim or wish for life. One of tt,
Indian prisoners told the horribl,
story of her death to his captors, will
a CLEAN of fiendish malevolence in hi
eyes.
David shuddered as he had no
among all the carnage of battle, an6
his limbs tottered beneath him. Some
one of the soldiers raised up his rife
and struck down the boaster as If he
were crushing snake. No one held
back his hand.
One, with awkward sympathy, put
his hand on the shoulder of the
shaken David and led him back to the
American camp. Behind them the
ruined village lay smoldering in the
| November sun; but David himself
walked as in dream. Men who met
him stepped aside in silence, to let
him pass, daring to ask no question.
Behind him rose the wailing of the
Indian women, mourning for their
dead, wailing among the trampled
maize; and the unutterable sorrow in
his heart grew heavier beneath their
unending lamentation as the stalks Of
corn are beaten to the sodden ground
in the cold rains of the dying year.
Mechanically he took up his work Of
watching over the wounded in the
heavy wagons. The camp was struck,
the homeward journey begun.
The suffering of the men in the
wagons was torture indescribable.
Over the uneven ground the oxen
dragged the numbering carts, the
wooden disks that served as wheels
slipping and jolting over rocks and
into bitches with cruelty which was
no less heartrending because it was
unavoidable. The carts were spring
less. Hot with fever under the icy
wind and racked with the terrific Jolt
ing, the wounded men raved, cursed.
sang in delirium. Of the 151 wounded,
70 died on the merciless journey from
the battlefield to the blockhOuse on
the Vermilion river, where the boats
had been left. Day and night David
heard their pitiful moaning, the
snatches of pleadings, the impreca.
tons and the incoherent wanderings
Of their tortured minds:
"A tubful of honey in the lean-to
and the bear got it''-"That ball went
through the hoop"-"Make the stock
ade higher'-"From Kaskasky with
Georgie Clark, tell ye"-'The An
gel Gabriel set his feet on those
stones"-"That Calls got the milk.
sick"-"No, dearie, there amt no more
neal'-Teacher, may I get a fresh
old man an / want |
'ome whisky"-"All the Federalists'
'chemfng"-"Water! amt there even
'ome rainwater?-"Oh. Molly, Molly,
Molly "-"Watch the right flank! The
light flank "-"Water! Waterw
Ihree miles below Tippecanoe the
ieeing Prophet made a nights camp /
N Wildcat creek, the Panse Pichou
u the French. Dubois scouts found
ne warm ashes of his campfire there
mo close by one of the guides picked
lp bit of lace. The man put 1t in
ne pocket of his shirt and brought IL
ack to the marching column. David
vas among the men who crowded
bout MIN to gaze at the tiny shred
I cloth; and having seen it he put
Ut his hand and took it, and no man
AID him no; for they saw that he
al recognized it as a part of a gar
lent OF Antoinette O'Bannon, whom
mad loved and who was slain. VIII.
ngly the man who had found the
oth LED David, at his request, back
the ashes Of the fire and there left
I'm In silence; and for long time
AVID stood looking at the ground
mere Toinette's feet last had been.
Inc frozen wilderness was very still.
ne bare branches of the forest
'eaked and groaned in the November
ISIS, but there was no sound of hui.
an life. On a dead limb a notified
oodpecker with a scarlet can
arched industriously and vainly for
food. A sleek, brown-furred bea.
r crawled to the top of the streams
NIX, looked inquiringly at the mo-
'nless figure brooding over the ashes \
the fire. and slid back into the wa.
with splash. Deep in the woods
mock of wild turkeys clucked among
underbrush. And so standing. Da-
tasted to the dregs the bitterness
MS failure, the numbing conscious
IS OF irremediable loss; tasted the
terness Of helpless defeat and spent
hour of agony and vain self.
'roach, while the grim forest shut
n In with silence.
A rifle cracked.
The ball knocked the cap from Da.
Is head. An inch to the right and
would have fallen, his skull shat.
ed; but he had bent his head Mt
very moment when the hidden
rksman's finger pressed the trigger
lie was all alone; only his own
ed and quickness of resource saved
].
(To BE CONTINUED1