Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1922-07-04
CHAPTER VII

Led by Dave, sometimes by the boy,
the four followed the course of rivers,
upward, always except when they de-
scended some mountain which they
had to cross, and then 1t was soon up
ward again. The two Virginia lads
found themselves, much 20 their cha
grin, as helpless as children, bat they
were apt pupils and soon learned to
make a fire with flint and even with
dry sticks of wood
Three days journeylng brought
them to the broad. beautiful H0lston
river, passing over the pine-crested,
white-rocked summit of Clinch noun
tain, and GANG TO- the. lastt pAtlEias fort
of the western frontier. Next day they
started on the long, long wilderness
trail toward the Cumberland range.
On the third day therefrom the gray
wall of the Cumberland that, ran with
frowning inaccessibi1ity on their right
gathered. its flanks into steep gray
cliffs and dipped suddenly into Cum
berland gap. Up this they climbed
On the summit they went into camp,
and next morning Dave swept long
arm toward the wild eXpanse to the
west.
-Four more days." he cried, "and
we'll be there"
The two boys looked with awe on
the limitless stretch Of wooded wildS.
1t was still Virginia, to be sure, but
they felt that once they started down
they would be leaving their own be-
loved state for q strange land of un-
known beasts and red men who people
that clark and bloody ground"
Before sunrise next morning they
were dropping down the steep and
rocky trail. That night they slept
amid the rocky foothills Of the range,
and next morning looked upon q vast
wilderness stretch Of woods that un-
dulated to the gentle slopes Of the
hills, and that night they were on the
edge of the bluegrass land.
Toward sunset Dave, through a
sixth sense, had the uneasy feeling
that he was not only being followed
but watched from the cliffs alongside,
and he observed that Erskine too had
more than once turned in his saddle
or lifted his eyes searchingly to the
shaggy flankS of the hills. Neither
spoke TO the other, but that night
when the hOot of an, owl raised Dave
from his blanket, ErSiine too was up-
right with his rifle in his band. For
half an hour they waited, and lay
down again, only to he awakened
again by the snort Of "a horse, when
both sprang to their feet and crawled
out toward the sound. But the heavy
silence lay unbroken and they brought
the horses closer TO the fire.
"NOw / know it was Indians 5a,d
Dave; ''that hOsS o mine can smell
one further'n q rattleSnake.", y, The boy
nodded and they took turns on watch
while the two boys slept on till day
light. The trail WAS broad enough
next morning for them to ride two
abreast-Dave and Erskine in advance.
They had scarcely gone hundred
yards when an Indian stepped into the
path twenty yards ahead. instructive
ly Dave threw Ills rifle up, but ErsEine
caught his arm. The Indian had lifted
his hand-palm upward. "Shawnee!F
said the lad. as two more appeared
from the bushes. The eyes of the two
tidewater boys grew large. and both
clinched their guns convulSivcly. The
indian spokesman paid no heed except
to Erskine-and only from the lads
face. in which surprise was succeeded
by sorrow and then deep thoughtful-
ness, could they guess what the gut
tural speech meant, until Erskine
turned to them.
They were not on the war path
against the whites, he explained. His
Observation-Disclosures, the, big chief,
the kinGtwas yery MI and IBIS mes
sage, brought by tliein; was that Frs
kline shopld come back to the tribe and
become Chief as the. chiefs only
daughter was dead and lis only son