The Indians grunted in disgust, put the boys in their midst and hustled them to the river.
"Guess we"re in for it," remarked William Wells. "We"ll keep a stiff upper lip. Who are they? Miamis?"
"Reckon so. Or Potawatomis. Glad they ain"t Shawnees," answered Little Fat Bear. "Shucks! If I hadn"t tumbled--! Don"t you cry, brother," he warned.
"Who"s cryin"! Don"t you bawl, yourself!"
"I blamed near skinned out. If I"d had a better head start I"d have run clean home; and then the folks would be makin" these Injuns hop, you bet," declared Brashear, the "Buck Elk."
"Aw, the Injuns would have followed you. They"d likely have shot you, so you wouldn"t give the alarm," retorted Fat Bear, wisely. "We"re all right. Who"s afraid of Injuns. If we don"t act up they"ll treat us well. The Miamis and Potawatomis ain"t as bad as the Shawnees."
"Wonder where they"ll take us," puffed the fifth boy.
They were being hustled at a trot. The river was crossed on the slushy ice. All that day they traveled northward; and all the next day, and the next, and the next, and on and on. No pursuit was sighted.
Probably Colonel Pope and the other families had thought that they were spending Sunday at the ponds, and had not looked for them until Monday morning.
The Indians were Miamis. That promised a journey clear to northern Indiana, perhaps. Whew! But Little Fat Bear and Buck Elk encouraged the fellows to "keep a stiff upper lip," and take whatever came; then the Indians would respect them more. If they put up a "holler" and "bellered," they"d be licked.
This worked out finely. Pluck always does. They and their captors got along splendidly, and they were not tied at night nor made to carry loads. Nevertheless, it was a tremendous journey, straight northward through the wilderness, with never a glimpse of any town, until, after a week or more, they arrived at the Miami village.
"How far"ve we come, you think?" asked William Wells, when the village was to be seen and by the preparations they knew that it was the place.
"Upwards of two hundred miles, I"ll bet," replied Fat Bear. He was not so fat, now.
That was a shrewd guess. The village was upon the Little Calumet River, near present Valparaiso in northwestern Indiana--a full two hundred and twenty-five miles from Louisville opposite the southern boundary. They had been taken through the whole state.
"The gauntlet! Cracky! We"ve got to run the gauntlet!"
"Golly! The same as any prisoners!"
"Don"t you show the white feather, any of you. Keep together and run like sixty."
"And don"t you tumble over again, either," they warned, of Fat Bear.
"If you"re down once, you"ll get licked proper."
"Make for the council house. That"s the way to do."
At the "prisoners"" whoop the village people had boiled out of their woven-reed houses. One of the Indians had hurried in advance, to tell the news, and the gauntlet lines were forming. It was to be a gauntlet by boys for other boys! There were only Indian boys in the lines--they were armed with sticks and switches and stones and small tomahawks and handfuls of salt and dirt (for the eyes), the same as warriors and squaws.
The five captives were halted. They had been greeted with yells and screeches; but they set their lips and clenched their hands, and stood ready. What their brothers and fathers and grand-fathers had done, they could do. It was quite an honor, to be made to run the gauntlet, like men.
The littler Linn was shoved forward, to lead the race. He was the smallest, and would hold the other boys back--and he had been the s.p.u.n.kiest, all the way up, because he had a quick temper and was prompt to fight. The Indians had liked to tease him.
"Go!" shouted the chief Indian. "Run!"
They ducked their heads, and ran. How they did run, and dodge, and scoot, in between the two lines which showered them with blows and kicks and stones and dirt! Boys against boys; that was it--and some of the Indian boys were hulking big fellows.
The five white boys did well; they were shifty and b.u.t.ted right on, till young Linn "got his mad up." Two-thirds of the way down a big Indian boy hit him a stunning crack full on the jaw. So what did he do but stop and whirl and with a straight left-hander knock the boy sprawling.
This was contrary to gauntlet rules. Anybody running the gauntlet was fair prey to everybody else, but he couldn"t strike back. Now the warriors who were watching the fun doubled over, laughing at the way the small boy had bowled the large boy over. The Indian boy"s mother and the other women shrieked angrily.
"Kill him! Kill the little Long Knife demon!"
Young Linn--he burst through the line and ran for life, to the council house. The lines broke, and yelling, chased after. It was to be blood for blood--and more than a mere b.l.o.o.d.y nose, too.
He got there first. He was a sight. His shock of hair had fallen over his forehead, his eyes glared--he had put his back to the council-house post, planted his foot, his hands were up, and he dared the whole crowd of them. He was so mad he could scarcely see. He looked dangerous for even a ten-year-old.
The largest of the Indian boys rushed him, to down him. Young Linn was left-handed--and a left-hander is a bad proposition, in a fight.
"Smack!" Over went the Indian boy; Kentucky Linn was right on top of him in an instant, kicking and pounding and clawing him until he howled.
The warriors were highly pleased. They formed a ring, and danced and cheered and whooped, to see the white boy take care of himself. But the other Indian boys charged in, wild with rage. It might have gone hard with Master Linn had not his four partners joined the fray. Then there was a lively fracas. It was Kentucky against the world. Fat Bear, Buck Elk, William Wells--they all five cleared a circle. The Indian boys large and small toppled right and left--did not know how to use their fists, tried in vain with clubs and rocks, were sent flying every time they dived to grapple, staggered away with b.l.o.o.d.y noses and swollen eyes; and pretty soon they had enough and to spare.
All this time the men were whooping and yelling, praising the white boys and urging the red boys to thresh them. Now they drove the remaining Indian boys away, and carried the five Kentuckians into the council-house, patting them on the back as heroes.
"We"re goin" to be adopted," gasped Little Fat Bear.
"I don"t care," wheezed Buck Elk. "Say! Did you see how little Jack uses his left hand?"
"Well, we told him to hold his temper. He"d like to have got killed,"
complained Fat Bear. "But we licked "em, anyhow."
"You bet we did!"
They were adopted. All the warriors were eager to have one of the fighting young Long Knives. At last the matter was settled; each boy went into a different family, to be an Indian. But they had to bid goodby to William Wells; his new father lived in another village. He was taken away, and they did not see him again--at least, not for several years. He stayed with the Miamis for eight years; was named Black Snake; grew up with them; lived in Chief Little Turtle"s town near the Fort Wayne, Indiana, of to-day; married Chief Little Turtle"s sister; and was much thought of by the Miamis. Then in 1793 he left, in the open, saying that he was going back to the white people and help the American army in its fights with the red people. He could not fire upon his own nation.
The four other boys remained here, in this town. They were well treated. They had shown their s.p.u.n.k; they were not cowards. The Indian boys made friends with them. They all played and hunted and fished together, and soon it was hard to tell the white boys from the Indian boys. But the four did not intend to be Indians any longer than they had to. They wanted to go home. It was the kind of vacation they had not figured upon spending--and yet it was fun, if only their folks could know. They learned a lot that they would not have learned in school. Still, they rather preferred school, after all; and home.
The spring pa.s.sed; and the lively pleasant summer. Indian boys do not work. They are free to loaf or hunt, and train for warriors. Only the girls work, so as to make women who will work.
In the crisp fall all the men except the very old left on a grand hunt, to bring back meat and prepare for winter. The old women and girls and little children remained in the town with the old men. The four young white Indians had not been taken, either. They had to stay. They were thought not to be old enough, yet.
"I reckon this is our best chance to escape," said Buck Elk, when he might.
Little Fat Bear nodded.
"We"ll plan and watch sharp. If one goes, all"ll have to go, though.
No lone trail."
"Of course. We won"t desert each other."
"But we"ve got to wait for a clear field. It"s a pesky long way home."
"That"s so. Just the same, we can make it if we have a good start."
They told the other boys, and they all lay low, waiting and scheming.
"We"re going fishing to-morrow," finally announced Buck Elk, to Fat Bear. "Want to?" And he winked.
"Who!"