The Indianapolis journal. [volume], April 21, 1889, PART TWO, Page 11, Image 11

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THE INDIANAPOLIS JOURNAL, SUNDAY, APRIL 21, 1889-TWELVE PAGES.
It
EAST AND WEST
A TALE OF NEW-BORN OHIO.
BY EDWARD EVE RETT HALE.
CHAPTER VI.
And now wo must turn to Mr. Harry
Curwen. In the enterprise in which he
found himself, pushing down the Mo
nongahela first, and then the Ohio, he had
no formal commission in the United States
army. He had distinctly told Washington
and Knox that he was not seeking an ap
pointment, and though he was intrusted
with responsibilities really important, he
was acting with the freedom of a volunteer.
He held a commission in Massachusetts as
a lieutenant in the militia, and had higher
rank as an aid to the local brigadier who
directed the musters and enrollments in the
militia organization. Knox had intrusted to
hiin this business of the pack-saddles, and
bad given to bim dispatches for General
Harmar; and it remained for the young
man to make or find for himself his posi
tion when he should have reported to that
nicer, and had seen for himself what was
known as "The Legion of the West," Knox
had placed under his command a dozen or
more recruits for the second regiment whom
he wanted to hnrry forward. And at Car
lisle, in Pennsylvania, the young man had
fallen in with an Austrian gentleman, the
Count Zapoly, who was going West with
a romantic idea of seeing the wilderness
and joining in war at the same time if he
miirht be so happy. . .
The country, tor ten years, was receiving
such people from Europe, stimulated by the
attractive stories of Lafayette, liocham-bea-u.
St. Simon and the rest of the othcers
01' the auxiliary contingent of the revolu
tion. This particular count had thrown
up bis own commission in the French army,
in disgust at some of the reforms, so called,
just introduced by the Ministry. For Har
ry Curwen, he was an amusing, not to say
an agreeable companion. He was not above
"a certain condescension" in addressing peo
ple who had not seen Europe; few natives
of that continent were or are. Ihithe was
a gentleman, he was curious and intelli
gent, and could talk of something besides
the rations and the oars. m
4,I shall not be diflicult, my friend," he
said to Curwen on the first day. "Give me,
all tho davs. an omelet and a little of soup,
and I shall bevery content."
Harry was obliged to tell him that he had
named'the two articles of food which could
not be prepared in America.
As for the men the crow, as Harry was
always calling them in his Salem way
they were but a poor set The government
paid but little, the probable service was
hard. In these days we should have called
the recruiting officer an agent for the So
ciety for Discharged Convicts, so many
f entry of doubtful reputation had he en
isled. Uncle Sam could not bo a chooser.
He had to take what he could get. t And
Harry found himself in company with a
motley set of soldiers, so called, from every
country and every State, who had enlisted,
some for a love of adventure, some to get
awav trom their wives, some to escape the
sheriff, and others from no motive at all
which could be defined. At this moment
thev had not even been formed into an
awkward squad.
Among them was a tall, delicate-looking
young lrginian, to whom Harry took a
fancy from the first moment when he met
the sergeant who had this party in charge.
He made a chance to speak to the boy, wno
was shy and lonely, and drew from bim
without ditliculty his whole story. He had
come from a lonely home near Fort
Cumberland. Years ago, when he was not
more than twelve years old, in a raid of
Indians across the mountains, they had
carried off his sister. The boy. boylike,
had even then tracked the party of maraud
ers in the childish hope of rescuing her.
And now, that he had shot up to the height
which gave him a right to go about among
men, ho had enlisted in the army in the
hope of finding her. It was clear enough
to Harrv. who was endowed with the pre
ternatural wisdom of three and twenty,
that the bov had no other requisite for a
soldier's life than the five feet nine inches
without which he could not have passed
the recruiting sergeant, unless, indeed, in
domitable will wero to be counted as a
requisite. Of that the good lad had abun
dance. He was simple in manners, very shy,
as had been said, and avoided, as a woman
might do, the rough play and jokes of the
reckless men around him. Indeed, in the
lonely log-cabin lifo of a single family he
had not . learned all the English which
came into the polyglot language of the
boat, and one of the many trials which the
sensitive fellow had to meet from hour to
hour came from his own utter inability to
understand the chaff which was thrown at
bim, the requests which were addressed to
him, or even the commands of his superiors.
The boat in which this voyage was made
differed entirely from the arks of the set
tlers. General Harmar, or some other offi
cer in high command, had said that a barge
for the use of Fort Harmar or Fort Wash
ington would be needed, and six or eight
good shipbuilders had been enlisted, nomi
nally, as "artificers," but with the under
standing that they might ask for their dis
charge whenever they chose, after they
arrived at the forts. These men wero
quite the snperiors of the rest in bearing
and in education. Hut as navigators they
had to do an extra turn of duty as the voy
age went on, because half the men hardly
knew the difierence between one end of an
oar and the other. In truth the barge, so
called, was much too large for
any such service as was pro
posed at the forts. She was
rather n Valley," a the language of
the time had it. As the men always slept
on shore, she was not an uncomfortable
vessel for the enterprise they had in hand.
Amidships, as the builders chose to say, a
considerable space was taken for the stores
of the partv and for the all-important pack
saddles, lore and aft of this space were
:eat for rowers, who, with very heavy
oars or sweeps, could hasten tho vessel
whenever the How of the current was not
considered sufficient for the purpose. It
was not long before the boat builders, who
were all from New England ports, and
rowed a boat as well as they built it, had
: trained the soldiers, as they were called by
courtesy, to handling the heavy sweeps.
Harry Curwen saw that the boy Clen
denin was not strong enough for this work,
and managed, on one excuse or anether, to
call him off. Eventually he attached him,
to his person, and the boy discharged the
thousand duties of an officer's servant.
Curwen made a log like that which would
have beea used in ono of the Salem East
India voyages, and he made a pretense of
keeping a journal of the rapidity with
which the boat sailed, using the log as the
basis of his observations. This he put into
l'hil Clendenin's charge and the easy work
of throwing the log, aud making tho notes
of the rapidity of their voyage, relieved
the boy from further dutv.
It was clear enough, whenever they stop-
. red at night, that he was grateful for the
''YankeeVoversight.andwaseagertorepay
it with a sort of j gentleness and gootf
breeding which had interested Harry from
the first. Harry always would find that
were carefully cut out, or the crooked snags
dragged out. which would else have brokin
his back in his night's turnings, or branches
would have been brought by Clendening'a
care with which tho bed should be made.
As they sat at tho tire one night Curwen
1r-tsed the boy for old stories of frontier
ife. In a more confiding mode than usual
the young Virginian gave some idea of the
way in which hewas brought up. aud ho
tola a story of what happened in his very
earliest recollections. One cold night they
were all awakened by the balking of tho
dogs outside their little cabin. "I was five
years old." id Clendeniu, "I should never
nave thought of it again but for what fol
lowed. My father got up in his shirt,
pushed open the door to see why the
dogs barked, and in an instant fell
back on the ground. A bullet had struck
him in the breast the moment the door was
opened. My mother wa close behind him,
rushed at the door and bolted it, and was
only just in time. I can tell you. Mr. Cur
wen, the bolts are strong in those cabins,
and if the cabin will stand the door will
stand. This was just what the door had
been built for.
The redskins did not mean to be kept
ont by bolts, ami, little boy as I was, I knew
what they wero doing when they began to
Lack at th door with their tomahawks.
It is queer, sir, but the thing I remember is
ft treat bit of wood breaking out and hit
ting me on the head, and seeing the ax
come through. Then the hole grew bigger
and bigger, and more axes came through;
but my mother told me to get under the
bed. which I did not do. Hut she stood
in the corner, with father's ax, waiting till
the first Indian stuck his arms through the
hole, and then his head. The minute his
head came in she hit him hard with the
back of the ax twice, and I can see the
blood run down on tho floor now, Mr. Cur
wen. He bad got so far in that he bung,
sir. in the hole, and she was so all-fired
wild that she pulled him in. We had not
had a chance to cry out before another of
the critters poked his head in in the same
waj'. She waited a minute longer this
time till half his body was in aud she hit
him in just the same way, on the back of
his heath Then there came a third, and
then there came a fourth, and my
mother dragged them all back and
laid them out in the corner.
Then the critters outside began to guess
what had happened, and no more came in
at the door. They were gone so long that
she nailed her bread board over the hole.
but then she beard a noise on top of the
cabin. My mother knew what it was, but
she did not dare to go to the chimney for
fear of the door, so she threw her knffe to
me and told me to cut open the feather bed
and throw the feathers into the fire. I do
not think I was in the least frightened; I
was wide-awake, you may be sure, and
threw the feathers into the lire. And! was
just in time. Two of them came pitching
down the great wooden chimney, smoth
ered by the smoke, and fell into the open
coals, liy this time ray. father had come to
and got on his feet. ' He found his gun,
which sho had not had time to handle. He
blew out the brains of one of them,
and she finished the other with the axe.
My father said afterwards that another
man tried to get in, but he got as eood as
he sent, and went away howling." Thev
tell this story all up and down the valley
now, and one of these copperhead, redskin,
blackguards said afterwards, when became
into Cumberland to trade, 'Things wasbad;
the white squaws fought worse than the
Long Knives.' "
Curwen did not wonder that a boy who
could tell such stories as this had in his
blood, the elements of a scout or Indian
hunter, and after he had heard this story
he did not so much wonder that he did not
sncceed in impressing upon Clendenin the
sentiments of humanity with regard to the
redskins, which ho had brought with him
from his Eastern home.
With such help as the long oars and stout
arms of the recruits gave, with the occa
sional good luck of heavy rains swelling
the current of the river, the boat made as
fast progress as anyone ought to have ex
pected. Master Harry Curwen, who was
eager to show tho woman he loved that he
had found a place in tho world and was re
spected by other people, thought that the
boat didnot go fast enough. And particular
ly, when, by the vagaries of the current, he
found himself sailing directly east when
his heart was rushing West, no quarreled
with fortune as young men will. Hut, what
with an , occasional extra glass of grog,
which he took the responsibility of serving
out to the crew, and what with making the
days as long as he aud the sergeant dared,
the boat made the shortest trip, as it proved,
which had yet been made, and arrived
safely at Fort Harmar. When the last day
came, the young man dressed himself in his
uniform as an olficer of the Massachusetts
militia, assumed such military aspect as he
could, and reported to General Harmar.
To sav the truth, he was a little disap
pointed when he came to see the fort, lie
had seen Fort Pitt, as he passed it, but had
supposed that that was an exception to
what he was to iind westward. The word
fort gave him associations of what he had
read of Marlborough's campaigns, and of
Frederick, and he was a little disappointed
when he found that the defenses most to be
relied upon were the stout wooden posts,
which were erected "just like a pale-fence,"
as he wrote homo to one of his Salem
friends, only with the pales ten feet high,
and the logs of which they were made a
foot or two in diameter. Within, however,
was a parade, properly enough arranged,
and. as it happened, a company of men were
at dress-parade when the boat arrived.
They were also duly challenged by the
sentinels, and other military forms were
gone through, as if they had been an in
vading army and the garrison a garrison of
some thousands of men. The boy liked
Harmar. who was quick and to the point,
received him as a gentleman, and at once
fut him in the care of an officer, who found
din a room in one of the barracks, and did
his best. to make him feel at home.
With the military business which
passed between the lad and the
old soldier we need not now inter
fere. The matter most on his heart ia most
on ours. And we may say at once, that so
soon as in decency he could, he asked for a
boat, and was carried a little way up the
Muskingum river, to the landing on the
opposite shore of the colony which already
had been named Marietta.
The streets of the little village had been
laid out by the surveyors, and there was
every aspect of quite a considerable begin
ning on the matter which they had in hand
a beginning, but everywhere a beginning.
Nothing was finished; the roads wero not
finished, the fences were not finished, the
houses were not finished. He had the 'Cam
pus Martins" pointed out to him, and with a
grim smile, by the old Yankee who led him
up from the landing to the village. When
he was fairly on the first street First street
it was already called it was easy to find
General Putnam, who was directing the
whole as an old baron might direct his vas
sals. General Putnam knew the lad; they had
met more than once at the May meetings of
the Essex militia and at fall parades, and
he was delighted to give his hand to the son
of an old companion in arms.
But when, as soon as he thought it would
do, Curwen broached the subject next his
heart, he had the most unsatisfactory
answer. The Titcombs had not come. Gen.
Putnam did not even know they were
coming. He had to switch off into a long
side inquiry as to what Titcombs thev
could possibly be, or was the young man
sure that they were not Whitcombsf
There were some Newbury people in the
colony, but they were out with tho sur
veyors on that particular morning. Gen.
Putnam could not think who there wsa
who would know anything about the
Whitcombs, as he insisted upon calling the
party from the very first, in short, Harry
Curwen had rushed his boat with unwonted
speed; had finished his business in half an
hour, instead of giving it a day or two, had
dressed himself in his best and come over
at once to visit Sarah Parris, and it was as
if he had come out in a dream on the top of
a mountain when he had expected.to be in
the cabin of a yacht; there was no Sarah
Parris here, there were no Titcombs here,
nobody knew that they were coming, and
nobody believed that they would come.
CHAPTER VII.
SARAH PARISH TO HULDAII WHITMAN.
T was the wettest girl you ever
did sec! Indeed, I did not know anj'ono
could be so wet. And, as we dragged our
selves along the beach and over the trunks
of fallen trees, it seemed to me as though I
should have done better if I were drowned.
Hut poor little Mary was crying bitterly,
and it seemed to do me good to have to keep
her alive. And in a minute more I saw
smoke, and I took it for granted all was
well. I never once thought the Indians
could make as good fires as the white peo
ple, though for a day or two we had been
on the lookout for Shawuees."
In truth, tho one terror of the expedition,
especially of the women of the expedition,
had been that they might fall into the
hands of some roving Shawnces, who would
prefer the present plunder of such a party
to any advantage, real or potential, which
might belong to such treaty obligations as
bound them to the Great Father at New
York. The tireat Father, as he then ex
isted, was hardly three years old, and any
prospect of his strength or power to redress
injury did not much affect the average
Shawnee conscience. Hut, as it happened
in this case, and as Sarah soon found, there
was no occasion for alarm. The men of the
party were away hunting, and the dirty,
smoke-begrimed squaws and children who
met them seemed ;it first as much afraid as
she was.
She had native pluck enough to make the
best of the situation. She dragged the cry
ing child across the beach up to the fire,
and said to her. You will soon bo dry' as
if she had built the fire herself; and then,
with a cheerful smile, offered her hand
frankly to the only woman of the party who
rose from the ground to meet her. feh re
membered at the momentthat the Shawnee
squaw would not be likely to speak Eng
lish, and was wondering for a moment,
what she should sav; when the other,
good-naturedly enough, but without smil
ing, gave a hand to the child, lifted her
where she could rest upon the cottonwood
log against which the fire was burning,
and said: Wet, wet, cold, wet. Warm
more by-by; by-by warm more; cold, wet,
cold, wet."
Sarah was amused and surprised that the
responsibility of the conversation was thus
taken from her. Sho assented to these sim
ple propositions, chietiy by repeating the
words ot the other, in different inflections
and varied order, somewhat as she would
do in saying a lesson in a French primer;
and she adapted herself to the occasion by
taking off some of her outer clothing, and
of that of the little girl, and proceeding to
wring the water out from them as well as
might be. In this act, sufficiently neces
sary, the other joined her, Sarah laughing
already, and her hostess quiet and grave.
"But, really, my dear aunt," Sarah wrote
to Mrs. Whitman, "from that time she and
1 were very good friends. I remember
thinking that if they were going to roast
me alive it would bo good to get dry and
warm as it began. But the young woman
was so good-natured in her deeds, though
she was so glum in her looker that I was
not afraid two minutes after it began."
The other women looked on, quiet as
three or four sphinxes might have been.
Hut gradually, as the three worked over
petticoats, and shawls, and stockings, and
brought them into tolerable condition, hag
number one, hag number two and hag num
ber three took more and more interest
i the process, and at last little
Mary Titcomb found that she had
conquered her terrors, and was not
above wondering what would come out of
the broken iron pot, which formed a sort of
center-piece in the fire, and from which
clouds of steam came up in putts as the
women kept the tire up with driftwood.
As the long twilight advanced, one and
another dive into the pot made by hag
number two with a long fork of cherry wood,
seemed to show that attairs were advanc
ing toward a solution of the girl's wonder.
Sarah made one or two ettorts at conversa
tion with the younger girl, who had given
to them such welcome as they had. Hut
any reader of these lines wlio, after the
full French course of the "New Padua Fe
male Seminary." has found out, say insor
mandy, how little the average French
peasant understandsof the French language
will readily believe that the two young
women did not obtain much mutual in
formation. Whether the Shawnee women
had any boat or canoe by which Sarah and
her companion could cross to the western
shore, she could not find out. Where they
were going themselves she could not find
out. NTor why they were there together on
the island, with no men folks visible.
Sarah had never heard that invaluable
counsel. "The dumb man's borders still in
crease." But sho was forced to fall back
on tho great truth hidden in it, whether
she would or no. Sho and Mary, however,
had all the more conversation because tho
communion with the Indian girl was so un
satisfactory. Mary consulted her as to the
propriety of their eating, or perhaps drink
ing, the provision in the pot
"My dear child," said Sarah, "if they ask
us. we had certainly better take what they
will give, 'asking no questions for con
science sake." I am sure that dear Dr.
Uently would teil us that this was good
sense and good Scripture. I am not so
doubtful about eating for I had Rut little
dinner as I am about what we shall eat
with. But we are as well oil' as Adam and
Eve were."
And this matter was soon tested. Hag
number two announced by sundry "ughs,"
and more definitely by lifting the pot from
the coals, that she was satisfied with her
studies of the contents. Hags number one
and number three then rose from the sand
where they had been crouching, and, at a
call from them, three or four children ap
peared, who had kept away before. The
three hags and the interpreter produced
such articles of table furniture as were at
hand or were thought necessary. These
were, first a long bit of bark which was laid
on tho sand of the upper part of the beach,
and supported with stones that it might
not roll. To Sarah's surprise and relief two
or three little bowls of cracked earthenware,
two or three half gourds and three small
wooden trenchers appeared. A trencher was
given to Mary and a half gourd to Sarah,
who kept it from rolling by sticks and little
shells from the ground. The old pot was
then set on the stones pust above it. A rude
earthen pot appeared in the hands of hag
No. 1, and this was set upon the bark. Then
hag No. 2, with a long gourd, from which
one large slice had been cut, so that
it made an excellent dipper, la
died out the contents of tho
iron pot into the earthen one.
She uttered several grunts, probably of ap
proval, though of this let no one speak cer
tainly. Certain discussion in the Shawnee
tongue followed, of which there is no rec
ord in any earthly archives. But it was
clear enough that none of the partv were
dissatisfied. Sarah suspected already,
what proved to be true, that the basis of
their meal would be boiled hominy.
So soon as the mixture had a little cooled.
Hag number two practically announced
that condition of things to the others, by
plunging deep with a large shovel made
from an elk-horn into the mass at tho bot
tom and bringing up two or three loads of
the more solid substances. As Sarah
had guessed, the principal material
was pounded corn, and the boil
ing had made a tolerable hominy. But
this was interspersed with the joints of two
or three squirrels, which had been added.
As soon as hag No. 2 had discovered that
all was cool enough, she ladled out from
pot No. 2 a mass of the whole compound,
and distributed it in the several gourds and
platters. Then, and not till then, did hag
No. 3 produce several wooden and horn
spoons, of various shapes and sizes, and
distribute them. Mary was beside herself
with eagerness to begin, and was relieved
from a certain fear which sho had had that
she could not take the hominy in her
fingers. There was no semblance on the.
part of any one of waiting for a proper
moment to begin. As soon as the hag
tilled a gourd, its possessor for tho
moment began to empty it. Poor
little Mary followed an example so excel
lent. She burned her mouth a little at first,
but this experiment gave her caution. "Is
there no salt, dear Auntief" she said after
a minute, "None, I am afraid, this side of
the Kentucky licks," said Sarah, laughing.
"We mut thank God for hominy, and eat it
without 6alt." "But here are big pepper
corns, Auntie, if they only tasted like pep- ;
per." No they only simulated pepper m i
shape. They were dried berries, which had
been pulled out by tho hot water. In truth,
they had lost most of any flavor which
they had had in the drying.
Tne squirrels had been cut or torn to
pieces before they were put in the pot. and
Mary had no difficulty in managing them
with her fingers, expressing to her so-called
aunt her wonder as 4 to what
her mother would 6ay if she
saw such defiance of the decorous
table habits'of Essex county. It seemed,
however, that something more was ex
pected aX the feast than these elements pro
vided. This something more appeared,
after the various joints of the squirrels had
been selected bj- one and another of the
part, when two of the hags, diving again
in the first pot, with a fork made of wood,
brought out in triumph a fish which Sarah
recognized as a small cat-fish, such as she
had herself more than once cooked since
they had been on the river. In a moment
more another was brought forth from the
same depths. There was little talk of the
methods of carving. i?o soon as the fish
were cool enough to eat, a smart
blow from a little hatchet di
vided each of them into two pieces,
and the four halves thus created were torn
to pieces by the ready lingers of the dark
colored members of the company. In the
distribution, however, Sarah Parris and
her younger friend were not neglected, and
large Hakes of the fish were assigned to
them.
Before the feast was all over, even the
long-summer twilight was over also, and it
was finished under such light as the dick
ering tire gave. Very little was said as it
went on. Whether what was said was ap
probation of the cooks or severe criticism,
Sarah could not guess, so passionless was
the tone of the speakers. But when all was
over, the various dishes and gourds were
taken by one and another to the river and
roughly washed, and then piled all together
upon driftwood, well up from the beach.
The English-speaking woman, if so she
may be called. who had a vo
cabulary of. perhaps, twenty words of En
glish, then resumed her care of the two
waifs who had been Hung upon the shore.
She leckoned Mary and led Sarah to a sort
of tent, roughly made of two bull'alo robes
stretched upon branches of cottonwood,
which our friends had not seen before, hid
den, as it was, by a crowth of willow tres.
Two such tentshad been stretched toeether
there, and, under the shelter of that to
which they were led, Mary and Sarah lay
down not unwillingly, finding that they
were in the hands ot so good a friend. The
friend discovered another buffalo robe,
sadly worn and not of the sweetest smell,
which she threw over them after they lay
down, still in the same unsympathetic man
ner which she had shown before.
"If she had been going to cut our throats7
WTote Sarah to her aunt, afterward, "she
could not have been more melancholy about
it. But for me, I was so tired that I
thanked her heartily, hoping 6he under
stood a word I said, and before you could
say Mack Kobinson' 1 was asleep, and so
was Mary."
CHAPTER VIIL
AT MARIETTA.
The tw'o girls slept the sleep of the
righteous, with the advantage which the
righteous do not always have, that one of
them was but twenty years old and the
other was hardly thirteen. It was with a
struggle that Sarah roused herself to con
sciousness in the gray of the morning
indeed, when she could hardly 6ee, though
she had opened her eyes, finding herself
summoned by the English speaking mem
ber of the Shawnee party. This woman
then made a prompt gesture of silence,
which gave her to understand that the
fewer words spoken the better. The woman
wakened Mary as soon as she saw
that Sarah was well awake, and
in a whisper Sarah bade her
be as still as sho might be. In a moment
they were both upon their feet, and their
guide silently led them along the beach, on
the other side of the island from that where
they had been upset. Here, in the gray
morning light, to Sarah's infinite relief,
they could see a canoe stranded. She
needed no solicitation when her guide
pointed her where she was to sit. She
placed Mary on the seat but did not enter
it herself till she had helped the other to
push it down the sand, and it was alloat .in
the water. The girl had herself rowed
dories through the Marblehead surf, and
would have had no trouble in paddling tho
canoe even had she been alone, but she was
not to be alone. Her silent guide pushed
the boat into tho water, and held it
where the water was above her own
knees; and then, when she saw Mary and
Sarah both seated in the stern, entered it
so dexterously that they were hardly aware
of any roll in the light craft, and then with
her own paddle steered off shore. She let
the current of the river carry her well by
the island, then crossed to the western or
southern side, and, in the eddy, which she
found there, worked up to the very camp
which tho girls and Cephas Titcomb had
beentrj'ing to make when their unfortu
nate accident befell them. The sky began
to grow red in the east as she ran the canoe
upon the beach there, pointed to the ark
which lay a little way above, and then,
without so much as heeding Sarah's good
bye, re-entered her own canoe, as
sue had done before, paddled stoutly
out into the current, and permitted
herself to drift down to her island. She
had made no attempt to explain herself,
and Sarah's eager expressions of gratitude
to her seemed to fall unheeded: they were
perhaps whollyunintelligible. For herself,
Sarah Parris was more rejoiced than words
could tell. With her charge she walked
along the sand to the ark, as as she ap
proached it saw one of the men come out,
stretching himself and yawning, from a lit
tle shelter which he had made for himself
in the cottonwood. He recognized her,
having, indeed, often seen her in tho hos
pitalities of the voyage of the lleet. if it
may so be called, and of course asked her
story, which was quickly told. The other
inmates of tho ark were called at once,
even rather earlier, perhaps, than thev
had expected, a tiro was soon built
upon the shore, and an early breakfast
made. With the skiff which this ark
trailed with her as a sort of tender, tho two
girls were soon dispatched to their side of
the river, and carried with them their own
account of their adventure.
"So. mv dear aunt, all's well that ends
well." This is the end of the letter which
Sarah wrote to her aunt on the morning, as
they were waiting for the return of the
two boys. There was a certain anxiety
lest these boys might have fallen into the
hands of thenunting party whose weaker
side had rendered the two girls the hospit
ality of the niaht before. As often as once
in a quarter of an hour a shot was fired, in
the hope that it might call some response
from them, if hey were straggling in the
woods: and onco Mr. Titcomb even loaded
the little swivel which t ho had
upon the ark, and made it wake the
echoes of tho banks on both sides. But
the balance of probabilities was in favor of
two stout boys who had been last seen
holding on by the canoe, and, in fact, be
fore 2 o'clock of the same day the boys pre
sented themselves. Thev had drifted down
the river further than they wished before
they had been able to make tho shore; then
in the morning they had made a visit, which
had taken them more time than they liked,
to what Mary insisted on calling "the
friendly island;" but they had at last
escaped from the temptations of tho sirens
there, and worked their way up to the en
campment of the party. This wouid have
been done much more quickly had they
known the eddies and currents as well as
did Sarah's guide.
Everything was then refitted for the voy
age down the river, and we have now told
"the only adventure w hich was an adven
ture," as Sarah wrote in her letter to her
aunt, which occurred before the party ar
rived in the mouth of the Muskingum. The
Ohio river at this point sweeps down al
most parallel witht ho Muskingum; and then,
after a sudden turn, receives the addition
made by that river. The Titcombs knew
the lay of the land well enough to be on
the lookout for the fort, and the great
helm of tho ark brought her up at its land
ing. The current of the Muskingum that
day was very Htrontr, and the hour was
late. General Harmar and the officers were
cordial and hospitable, and begged the
travelers to spend the night within the
barracks, but tliey could not bear to come
so near the journey's end without finishing
it, and Sir. Titcomb excused himself
from accepting these hospitalities.
He would leave his ark, he
said, to bo carried across the stream when
he should find where she was to lie, but he
borrowed ono of the 1 boats of the garrison,
and with his boys paddled the women or
the party across up to the Marietta landing,
carrying with them such conveniences as
they might need for the night. And so,
just as the sun went down, they found
themselves in their new home.
It was a week to a day since Harry Cur
wen had landed at the same spot, and had
walked up to First street, looking after tho
very people who, in their turn, were now
wondering at all they saw. Everyone asked
first for General Rufus Putnam, that noble
leader of the people a man who showed
himself equal to the largest cares and con
cerns, was called upon almost of course for
each smallest seivice, and was as ready in
the one as he was successful in the
other. At this momont he was in his own
cabin, with the members of his household
around him at supper. To Mary's amuse
ment, tho string of which she had often
heard hung out from an auger hole in the
door, and, when a hearty "Come in" an
swered her father's knock, and he pulled at
this string, the wooden latch rose and the
door swung open. At a long pine table set
on trestles was a large party of men and
women. At the head was Rufus Putnam,
looking the leader which he was. He was
still in tho prime of life, tall, vigorous and
handsome. In a moment he had sprung
from his seat and came forward cordially,
but he said at once, "I do not know you, do
H" The elder Titcomb laughed and said,
"I know you. General: every
body knows you, but you have
not spoken to me sinro the day
when you sent me with a file of men to
burn the bridge over Dobson's creek, in
Jersey. I don't know, General, but I al
ways thought that when you turned away
you said to that Frenchman that the ten of
us was enough to be cut to pieces. I was
Sergeant Titcomb that day, of the Nine
teenth Massachusetts: now I am plain
Cephas Titcomb, and 1 have come with my
folks to see what kind of farming there is
in the Muskingum."
Rather to his surprise, General Putnam
seemed to care more for his name than for
the memory of Dobson's creek, although he
perfectly well remembered the circum
stance of tho bridge. The General con
fessed very frankly that he probably said
to the Fiench officer that the file of men he
sent were enough to bo cut to nieces. But
now, with a laugh, he was willing to say.
"You understood your business so well
that we cut off that whole cavalry
troop, if vou remember, and I think, ser
geant, that you were not sergeant many
days longer." At which recollection of his
promotion tho other smiled, well pleased.
But the conversation drifted at once into
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matters of more immediate importance.
"Your name is Titcomb!" said General
Putnam; "Titcomb, and vou are from New
bury! Cephas replied that it was precisely
so.
"Who is it who is it that is here that
wants to see you!" said General Putnam.
"There was a man asking for you here yes
terdayno, not yesterday, butnot long ago.
Are there any Newbury people here whom
you know! The Boyntons and their set
have moved up the river to Belpre."
Cephas Titcomb enumerated the various
Newbury families who would know him,
and the General again racked his memory,
all tilled as it was with a thousand such de
tails, to recollect who had been asking for
some Titcombs.
But meanwhile his womenfolk had asked
in tho other womenfolk, had entreated
them hospitably, and made them lay aside
their wraps; and stools and boxes and bar
rels had been provided for them to sit upon.
The men of Putnam's household had moved
away, some with bits of bread and pork in
their hands and some pretending that their
supper was done. Clean plates had been
brought and put upon the table, and in
spite of all protestations that they were
not hungry, good Mrs. Titcomb, Sarah
Parris, Mary and the rest found,
themselves seated at the amply-provided
table. No token here of the destitution or
starvation of new colonists! The different
hospitalities were pressed by Mrs. Putnam,
who presided at the table, and matters
were going on, with rapid question and
answer, as to the success of the voyage,
when Sarah's cheeks flushed and she was
unable to answer the question as to what
she saw at Fort Pitt, because she heard
General Putnam say:
"I know who it was. It was that young
fellow from the fort, you will remember
him, Titcomb; you will remember him. It
was Harry Curwen. He is a lieutenant in
your Salem company; headed as aid to
Vamum only two years ago at the muster
at Ipswich; I don't know whetcheryour
company was thero, but I saw him. We
had dinner together in my tent that day
a nice looking, manly fellow he is, though
he is of the old Tory stock. It was ho that
was here, and he was asking after you."
"Asking after me!" said Cephas Titcomb.
"why should any of the Curwens ask after
roe! My brother John he see old 'Lisha
Curwen in London once, when the war was
over, and he said the old Tory sung pretty
small, and wished he was back to Essex
again. I guess they all do. General. I
guess they'd rather bo in your cabin here
than feasting with the king in his palace.
But I never see any of the Curwens; they
went their way and I went mine. Why
should any of the Curwens ask after Cephas
Titcombr
Sarah Parris listened with all her cars,
but the conversation refused to turn on tho
Curwens any more, and she found that the
men wero talking of trees, and lumber, and
saw-mills, and boat-building, while the
women were talking of Jersey tea, and dry
ing berries, and weaving andspinning, aud
6he was left to wonder herself to sleep that
night with the question, how could it be
that Harry Curwen should be talking to
General Putnam, and in wondering what
had become of him.
CHAPTER IX.
THE LOO HOME.
Into all the intricacies of land titles, res
ervations, town lots and farming lots,
which occupied the politics of the Titcomb
family for the next weeks, this little story
must not go. There are conveyancers who
would make the inns and outs of that nar
rative as attractive as ever Dickens
made a tale of the London slums.
But our story runs for the present
on other lines, and we must leave
it to one of our Ohio friends to work out as
he chooses those delicate rootlets of the ti
tle. Suffice it to say that to Cephas Tit
comb's experienced eye it was soon clear
that the very best spots in the neighbor
hood of Marietta had been taken up.
He determined to accompany the sur
veying party up the Muskingum river;
and before a fortnight was over, he and his,
by the aid of a good stiff south gale, much
hauling and poling, and infinite work on
the part of all concerned, had succeeded in
bringing their ark some ten or fifteen miles
from Marietta, where he bad taken for him
self a new claim, more distant from the
town than Mrs. Titcomb would have liked,
but on the edge of a grove eo beautiful that
C. MATTi
the Titcombs 01 this generation bless him
with all their hearts for the choice of that
summer day when he planted them there.
Perhaps he would have said that the
choice was Hobson's choice; that he went
as far as he could, and that he stopped be
cause he could go no further.
It was already late in the summer and
little enough could be done in the way of
farming, although the provident man did
choose to break up some acres of prairie
land, that he might try some experiments
before the winter.
And yet another novelist, of the archi
tectural or constructive vein, would make
for us aBtoryof the history of those two
log cabins as they rose. Most of Mr. Tit
comb's companions bad determined, "on
the whole," to remain with him through the
winter, though, to people who understood
the New Englander, it may be said that no
man had bound himself no, not for an
hour to do anything or to bo anywhere in
the future. But, "on the whole.' again, it
"seemed as if they "might as well" stay
with him. And the sturdy men who had
helped build the ark began tho work of
erecting tho cabins. None of them wero
afraid of work not a mau, woman or child.
Tho women did not ply the ax. except to
split wood, but the men did and the boys
did. Hobson's choice and Titcomb's choice
together had resulted in their being near
one of the groves which distinguish the Ohio
prairies from those further West. And iXwas
not long before logs enough were tSlt to
make the walls of these cabins high enough
for any man who would enter through the
door. "We'll make 'era seven foot in the
clear," said Cephas Titcomb, with a grim
humor. "le.st any of them big Virginny men
they tell on, want to come in and make us
a visit They shan't have to duck their
heads because they come into our cabins."
The little saw-mill on the river was heavily
pressed bv the difl'erent settlers, but still a
few planks were floated up for use in the
floor and for making doors and tables.
Cephas went so far as to rig a saw-pit, much
to the grief of the boys and young men who
occasionally had to work in it, but this work
was avoided by every device, and the simp
ler power of the stream was made to take its
place. The days were growing shorter, and
at th very best they seemed only too
short to the industrious workmen and work
women. "You're all as hungry ns bears
three times a dav," said Mrs. Titcomb,
good-naturedly, n slier working party came
into her cabin after it was finished. The
reader understands, of course, that one and
the same room was hall of entrance,
kitchen, sitting-room, best room and bed
room. At ono end an immense fireplace of
logs, covered thick with clay, opened an
immense chimney to the sky. It never
really happened that logs were hauled into
the kitchen by the horses, but they were
rolled up by crowbars, and lifted to their
places by the joined force of two or three
men. A fire once made held to its work
through the day aud evening, never
went out, indeed, and, as the
great logs burned, the women threw
in light stuff enough to give the
blaze or special heat which they
required, when a pot was to be
"brought to a boil," or when a turkey was
to be roasted. For food there was constant
stock of what we call prairie hens until the
family tired of the frequent luxury; thero
were as many turkeys as peoxle would eat.
The gardens of Marietta, as autumn drew
on, furnished already the white beans
which replaced those which Mrs. Titcomb
had taken from the barrels so carefully
brought from New England. Tho Marietta
farms had also produced enough lndiau
meal to carry them through the winter.
They ground this in hand-mills, from timo
to time, as they needed it. If anybody
complained of salt pork he was told to take
his gun into the woods and bring in a deer 1
or a bear, and there was no ditliculty in
supplying the demand. It was cleareuuugh
that they were not to die of hunger that
winter.
At first there was no lack of society.
Almost every day thero would be a mess
senger sent down to the town for this or
that which had been forgotten or which
was needed in the building. But this
changed as autumn came on. They wero
themselves almost the last of the settlers
of that summer who came tip tho Mus
kingum. At first, from time to time, one or
another adventurer going further, or one or
another surveyor returning, stopped for
their hospitality at night, or at breakfast,
at dinner, or at supper. But such arrasious
became more and more rare as October
closed in. and now it would happen that
for a week at a time no one ppoke to them
from outside their own company. It might
1 r-
t
bo ihnt dti Indian mmn came to the-iLcor.
and gave an unintelligible indication that
he was present and wanted something to
eat. They already knew that the presence
of an Indian meant that he was hungry.
These lords of the soil had established a
certain ground-rent, shall we sav, by which
the new occupants were notified horn timo
to time that they were not th-3 original
possessors. Thero was not a woman, and
there was hardly a man who would dare
refuse the application thus made. And if
a great Shawnee hunter did appear, Mrs.
Titcomb and Sarah had learned, before tho
winter came on. not to be afraid of him.
They knew that, liko other men, he was
hungry, and they knew that ho expected
to be fed. They knew that h would be
quite indifferent as to knife or fork, but
they knew that he would eat more than
they had conceived it possible for a human
being to cat, when they left homo.
On the other hand tney were not particu
lar as to what they gave nim. If there wero
dry and hard Johnny-cakes laid aside, they
were good enough for Indians; if thero
were hominy only half-cooked in the pot,
it was good enough for Indians; if there
were salt pork not yet boiled or firied, it
was good enough for Indians; and they had
no experience of any warior or hunter re
f nsing anything that was set before him.
If the man wanted to spend the night.
buflblo skin was given him and he spread
it where he chose. No salutes were ex
changed on the arrival of such guests, and
none when they departoL
Sarah Parris wondered with herself some
times, especially when the quiet Sunday
came, with an opportunity to look in upon
herself a little, that she was so entirely
satined with the life that she was living.
There was no writing in a journal, there
was no committing to memory of Mr. Cow
per's poems or Dr. Young's sentimentalities
there was no chattering with other girls of
her ag; there was no cutting over of
dresses or matching of ribbons; there was
absolutely nothing of the life which had
interested her only a year ago. And yet.
as she said to herself again and again,
she was happier, stronger indeed, in every
sense she was better than she was in Salem.
Sometimes, when she was in tho mood for
analysis, she said to hciself it was becauso
she was of more use: sometimes sho said it
was because she dealt more with thereali
ities of things. Sometimes she tried to
persuade herself it was because she was in
the open air; sometimes, in her reverential
moods, she said she was nearer God under
His sky than she was in a lighted dancing
room or in an elegant parlor. Of a rainy
Sunday she would bring out from her little
chest one or another of her books and try
to read, as she knew she would have read
in her pretty room at Mrs. Whitman's
if she wero in Salem and there were a
storm. Sometimes she did read, but she
was well aware that she was not interested
in tho book as she had been when there was
less to interest her outside. She even
wished sometimes that she bad the writing
of tho book herself, and felt that she could
come nearer to what she called "the truo
thing" once, when she was trying to mako
Mrs. Titcomb understand her, than tho
stately English writers In whom she had
been so much interested while she was ut
home. The truth was that, in the six
months which the girl had spent in meas
uring herself aeainst other people and
against the world, she had advanced in lifo
as she had not done in fivo years before.
Her soul was a larger ouL her mind was
larger mind, even as her body was &)
different body. And. as she sat one day.
cutting to pieces one 01 the dresses which
which she had brought out for the winter,
sothatsLe might be able to put it on. she
aid to herself what she dared not nay to
Mrs. Titcomb that she believed she had
grown as much in other wavs as she was
sure she had gained in the length of the
belt she wore.
They were all happy because it did not
occur to them that they were happy. They
had not time to ask themselves thequestiun
whether they enjoyed their lives and tho
first consequence was that they had "the
joy of eventful livine." and all lived as if
they had never lived before. 80 passed
October, and so. with an occasional frost
now, the glorious Indian summer of No
vember came in.
CONCLUDED XEXT SUNDAY.
Copyright, 18i9,ty Tdtrartl Etnxtt Ilatc
As Sara as YouVs Iiorn.
Boxntrviilo Joureil
Very few people in this world would ever
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