The Sun Maid: A Story of Fort Dearborn

  CHAPTER VIII.

  AN ISLAND RETREAT.

  Under the incentive of love and excitement--heightened by a tinge ofjealousy--all Wahneenah's former skill in horsemanship returned toher. When the Snake-Who-Leaps lifted the Sun Maid to the back of theSnowbird the woman felt an unreasoning anger against him. She couldnot patiently endure to have any other hand than her own touch thesmall body of her adopted child, upon whom had now centred all thepent-up affection of her starved heart.

  "If my darling must be taught, I will teach her myself!" she suddenlyresolved, and promptly acted upon the resolution. Previously, and whenshe ordered the chestnut to be brought to her tepee, she had merelyintended to ride in company with the others and in a limited circleabout the village. Now a mad impulse seized her to be off over theprairie, farther than sight could reach, and on half-forgotten trailsonce familiar to her. It was the first time she had mounted any animalsince her widowhood.

  When she heard Gaspar's daring declaration, she thrilled with delight.All the savage in her nature roused to enjoy this wild escapade, and,catching firm hold of the Sun Maid's bridle rein, she nodded over hershoulder to the lad, and led the way northward.

  "It's like that strange fairy story, in the book given Peter Wilson,that came from way over in England, and was the only one in the world,I guess. Was the only one at our Fort, anyway," thought Gaspar, as hefollowed in equal speed, and at imminent risk of his life. For anight's rest had restored the black gelding to all his spirit, and hadthe boy attempted to guide or control him there would have beenserious trouble.

  As it was, Gaspar confined his efforts to just sticking on, and hadall he could do at that; but after a short distance, the three horsesbroke into an even lope, keeping well together, and all under thecommand of the Indian woman.

  "Oh, I love it!" she cried, the rich blood flaming under her duskyskin, her eyes sparkling, and her long black hair streaming on thewind which their own motion created.

  "Kitty loves it--too--Kitty guesses!" echoed the child, entering intothe other's mood with quick sympathy. Indeed, she was the safer of thethree. There is a hidden understanding between horses and children,and numberless instances prove how carefully even an untamed beastwill treat a little child--if nobody interferes. But let an adultattempt to avert a seeming danger, and the animal will promptly throwthe responsibility on human shoulders, and act out its own mood at itsown will.

  Wahneenah understood this, and, simply leaving her hand upon theSnowbird's rein, but quite without any pressure, rode where thatfrolicsome creature chose to lead. A strap, which the Snake-Who-Leapshad fastened around the waist of the Sun Maid, held her securely toher saddle, though her small hands clutched the flying mane of hermount so tightly that she could not well have been shaken off.

  It was a rough school in which to learn so dangerous an art, but itsufficed; and that one day's ride did more to help Gaspar and Kitty togood horsemanship than all the instruction they afterward received.

  "How far--nice Other Mother?" asked the little girl, when the threehorses of their own accord began to slacken speed.

  "Not far now, papoose. See yonder, where the trees fringe the river?Among those trees is a wonderful spot I know. I've not seen it foryears, but in its shelter my warrior and I spent many happy hours.There we used to take our son, and tell him the story of his people.It was a hiding-place, in the ancient years, when enemies of thePottawatomies were on the war-path, and the chief would save his womenand children. But nobody remembers that trail, at this late day,except those of my father's house. Besides me, not one soul lives whocould find his way thither, save Black Partridge. It is even manymoons since he has talked with me about it, and he may not recall itstill. Though he is a man who never forgets, and the knowledge isdoubtless merely sleeping in his brain."

  Kitty Briscoe understood but little of this speech, but Gaspar'sinterest was roused. Amid the discipline and routine of his oldlife at the Fort, his lighter, gayer qualities had lain dormant,but they were now rapidly awakening under the influence of hisrecent adventures. It was impossible, too, for anybody to be longwith Wahneenah, in her present mood, without catching her spiritand gayety; and though the Sun Maid comprehended little save theliveliness of her companions, she could enter into that with all herheart.

  Therefore, it was a merry party which came at last to the river bank,where the horses were glad to pause for rest, and where they wouldeagerly have slaked their thirst, had they been permitted.

  "But that won't do, Wahneenah, will it? At our Fort we never watereda horse when it was warm. The Captain said they would be ruined, so."

  "You do well to remember all the wisdom you have been taught,Dark-Eye. Here, let me show you something even a white man may notknow. How to tether a horse with a rope of prairie grass, made in amoment, but strong enough to last for long."

  "Lift me off, Other Mother," cried Kitty, from the Snowbird's back,and Wahneenah swung her down.

  "Now, Dark-Eye, pull as much of this rush grass as your arms can hold.It will take a heap for three ropes."

  "Have the pretty ponies been naughty? Must they be tied up, too?"

  "Not because they are bad, but because they are good, papoose! That isthe way of life. It is full of contradictions. But, don't wrinkle yourpretty brows puzzling what you cannot understand. Run and help theDark-Eye pull the long grasses."

  It was so wonderful to see Wahneenah's skilful fingers twist and turnand thread the slender blades in and out that both children werefascinated by her deftness; and though Gaspar could not at all catchthe trick of this curious weaving, he resolved to practise it inprivate till he could equal, or excel, this example. Again hisambition arose to prove that a pale-face was always superior to anIndian, and his dark eyes gazed so fixedly upon Wahneenah's flyingfingers that she laughed, and demanded:

  "Are you jealous, my son? But there's no need. Nothing that I knowwill be hidden from you, if you choose to be taught. But, come. Takethis rope that is finished. Twist it about the gelding's neck--so; nowpass it downward between his front legs and hobble him by the righthind one. No, he'll not resist. Try it. Then you'll see that he'llneither nibble at his tether nor run away from us."

  Gaspar was too proud to show that he somewhat dreaded interfering withthe restless legs of the spirited Tempest, and to his astonishment hefound that the animal submitted very quietly to the tying. This mayhave been because Wahneenah stood by its beautiful head and murmuredsome soft sounds into its dainty ears. Though what the murmuring meantnobody save herself and Tempest understood. In like manner, and veryquickly, all three horses were fastened in the shade of the trees, andas soon as they had cooled sufficiently, Gaspar was bidden to waterthem.

  Then the Sun Maid was called from her play among the wild flowers thatfringed the bank, and made to walk behind Wahneenah's skirts.

  "Cling close, my Girl-Child! We're going into fairyland. Bow yourpretty head till it is low--low--low down, like this"; and herselfbending till her own head was very near the earth, the guide pushedforward into what appeared to be a solid tangle of bushes.

  "Why, Wahneenah! You can't go through there. It's a regular hedge. Butif you want to try, I have a little knife in my pocket, that myCaptain gave me. Let me go first--I am the man--and cut the way;though I don't see why. Isn't there a better place?"

  "There are many things a lad of ten cannot understand, Dark-Eye, eventhough he be as manly as you. Trust Wahneenah. An Indian neverforgets, and never makes the haste that destroys. Watch me. Learn alesson in woodcraft that will be useful to you more than once. Cut orbroken twigs have tongues which betray. But thus--even a bird couldfind no trace."

  With infinite patience and accuracy of touch, the woman parted theslender, interwoven branches so delicately that scarcely a leaf wasbruised, and little by little opened a clear passage into a downwardsloping tunnel. This tunnel ran directly under the river bed, and wasso steep in places that one might easily have coasted over it.

  "Why, how queer! It's like the underg
round passage from the Fort tothe river, where we children used to peep, but were never allowed toenter. What is it? Why is it?"

  "Let your eyes ask and answer their own questions. They are safer thana tongue, my son. But fear nothing. Where Wahneenah leads the way forthe children whom the Great Spirit has sent her they may safelyfollow."

  Then, without further speech, she went forward for what seemed a longdistance, through the half light of the tunnel, until it opened into awide chamber, across which trickled a clear stream and which wasfanned by a strong current of air.

  The children were silent from curiosity, not unmixed with dread; andtheir guide had also become very grave and silent. Memories werecrowding upon her soul, and banishing the present; but she was rousedat length by the wild clutch of the Sun Maid's arms, as somethingwinged swept by them in the twilight.

  "Other Mother! Other Mother! I--I don't like it! Take Kitty, quick!"

  "Ah! I was dreaming. My dead walked here beside me, and I forgot. Butis the Sun Maid ever afraid? I did not think that. Well, it's overnow. The gloomy passage, the big, dark room--See?"

  Suddenly, at a turn westward out of the chamber and beyond it, theyentered upon what might, indeed, have been fairyland. The exit wasanother passage, rising gently to a rock- and tree-sheltered nook inthe heart of a tiny island. From any outward point this retreat wasinvisible, and when they had emerged upon it the Indian woman'sspirits rose again. She caught up the Sun Maid and tossed her lightlyupon a bending branch, that seemed to have grown expressly for achild's swing.

  "My warrior trained that bough for our son's pleasure, and from it herocked and danced as a tiny papoose. Now--in you, he lives again.Hold, Dark-Eye! What are you seeking?"

  "Oh, just nothing! I was poking around to see----"

  "If you could find anything to eat? The wild blackberries should growjust yonder, and, wait--I'll look."

  "For what will you look, Other Mother? Aren't these the prettiestposies yet?" and Kitty held upward a cluster of cardinal flowers whichshe had pulled from a mass by the water's edge.

  "Ah, they are alive! They have the heart of fire. But, take care. Itis always wet where they grow and small feet slip easily. If you wereto soil your pretty clothes, old Katasha might be angry."

  "I'll take care. May I have all I can gather?"

  "All. Every one."

  Then Wahneenah returned into the cave and to a niche in its wallwhere, years before, she had put a store of dried corn, some salt, anda bit of tinder. The articles had been stored in earthen jugs, and itwas just possible they might be found in good condition. If they were,she would show the man-child how to catch a fish out of the littlestream in the cavern, where the delicate trout were apt to hide. Thenthey would make a fire as they had used in the old days, and she wouldcook for these white children such a supper as her own dear ones hadenjoyed.

  "See, Gaspar, Dark-Eye. I will fetch you a line and hook. Sit quietand draw out our supper--when it bites!"

  "But I have a far better hook than that in my pocket; and a line theSauganash gave me, one day. I am a good fisher, Wahneenah. How manyfish do you want for your supper?"

  "You are a good boaster, any way, pale-face, like all your race; and Iwant just as many fish as will satisfy our hunger. If you had your bowhere, you might wing us a bird. Though that would not be wise, maybe.Keep an eye to the Sun Maid, lest she slip in the brook."

  "This is a funny place. It is an island, isn't it? Like the picturesin my geography; and there is a little creek through it, and anotherin a cave, and--I think it is beautiful. But you're funny, too,Wahneenah. You say my Kitty is a 'spirit,' and 'nothing can harmher,' yet you watch out for her getting hurt closer than the othermothers did."

  "You see too much, Dark-Eye. But--well, she is a spirit in a girl'sbody. If you let evil happen her it will be the worse for you. Hearme?"

  "I wouldn't let her get into trouble any sooner than you would,Wahneenah. I love her, too. She hasn't any folks, and I haven't any,except you, of course. She belongs to me."

  "Oh! she does? Well. Enough. We all belong to each other. We have madethe bond."

  When the woman returned from her search in the cavern her face wasvery grave. Yet it should have been delighted, for she had found notonly the corn and the other things she remembered, but a goodly storeof articles, quite too fresh and modern to have remained there sinceshe last visited the spot. There were dried beans, salted beef, cakesof sugar from her old maple trees--she knew her own mark upon them;and, besides these, were flour and tea in packages, such as had beendistributed from Fort Dearborn among as many Indians as were entitledto receive them. It was both puzzling and disappointing to find herretreat discovered and appropriated by somebody else.

  "It must be that Shut-Hand has, in some way, found this cavern out.All the other people would have eaten and enjoyed their good things,and not stored them up, like this. But he is crafty and secretive, andhis name is his character."

  Had Wahneenah hunted further she would have found, in addition to theprovisions, a considerable quantity of broadcloth, calico, and paint;which articles, also, had been among those recently secured from thegarrison. But she neither examined very closely nor touched anythingexcept that for which she had come to the recess; and she even forcedherself to put the matter out of mind, for the time being.

  "I have brought my children here to make a holiday for them. I willnot, therefore, darken it by my forebodings. The young live only inthe present or the future. I, too, will again become young. I willforget all that is past."

  From that wonderful pocket of his, Gaspar took a decent hook andline, and easily proved his skill among fish that were too seldomdisturbed to have learned any fear; while Wahneenah made a tiny fireof dried twigs, in the mouth of the cavern, and boiled her preparedcorn, that she had broken and ground between two stones, into a sortof mush. With Gaspar's fish, broiled upon the live coals, the puddingsweetened by a bit of honey from a close sealed crock, and a draughtof water from the underground stream, the trio made a fine supper;and afterward, when she had carefully cleared away the _debris_,Wahneenah rekindled the fire, and, sitting beside it, took the SunMaid on her knee and drew the motherless Dark-Eye within the shelterof her arm.

  Then she told them tales and legends of the wide prairies and distantmountains; and her own manner gave them thrilling interest, becauseshe believed in them quite as sincerely as did her small, wide-eyedlisteners.

  "Tell it once more, Other Mother. That beau'ful one 'bout the littlepapoose that hadn't any shoes, and the flowers growed her some. Justlike mine"; holding up her own tiny moccasined feet, and rubbing themtogether in the comfortable heat.

  "Once upon a time a little girl papoose was lost. The enemies of herpeople had come to her father's village, and had scattered all hertribe. There was not one of them left alive except the little maid."

  "I guess that's just like Kitty, isn't it?"

  "No. No, it is not," replied the story-teller, quickly. For she hadfelt a shiver run through Gaspar's body, and pressed it close inwarm protection. "No. It is not like either of you. For to youis Wahneenah, the Mother; the sister of a chief who lives and ispowerful. But this was away in the long past, before even I was born.So the girl papoose found herself wandering on the prairie, and itwas the time of frost. The ground was frozen beneath the grasses,which were stiff and rough and cut the tender feet that a mother'shand had hitherto carried in her own palm."

  "Show me how, Mother Wahneenah."

  "Just this way Sweetheart," clasping the tiny moccasins in a lovingcaress.

  "Tell some more. I guess the fire is going to make Kitty sleepy, byand by."

  "Sleep, then, if you will, Girl-Child."

  "And then?"

  "Then, when the little one was very cold and tired and lonely sheremembered something: it was that she had seen her own mother lift hertwo hands to the sky and ask the Great Spirit for all she might need."

  "He always hears, doesn't He?"

  "He hears and answers.
But sometimes the answers are what He sees isbest, not what we want."

  "Don't sigh that way, Other Mother! S'posin' your little boy did goaway. Haven't you got Gaspar and Kitty?"

  "Yes, little one."

  "Go on, then. About the little maid--just like me."

  "So she put her own two tiny hands up toward the sky and asked theGreat Spirit to put soft shoes on her tired little feet."

  "And He did, didn't He?"

  "Surely. First the pain eased and that made her look down. And thereshe saw a pair of the softest moccasins that ever were made. They wereof pale pink and yellow, and all dotted with dark little bead-spots;and they fitted as easily as her own dainty skin. Then the girlpapoose was grateful, and she begged the Great Spirit that He wouldmake many and many another pair of just such comfortable shoes forevery other little barefoot maid in all the world. That not one singlechild should ever suffer what the girl papoose had suffered."

  "Did He?" asked Gaspar, as interested as Kitty.

  "Yes. Surely. The prayer of the unselfish and innocent is alwaysgranted. He sent a voice out of the sky and bade the child look allabout her. So she did, and the whole wide prairie was a-bloom withmore pink and yellow 'shoes' than all the children in all the earthcould ever wear. They were growing right out of the hard ground,reaching up to be plucked and worn. So she cried out aloud in hergratitude: 'Oh, the moccasin flower! the moccasin flower!' and eversince then this shoe-like blossom has been beloved of all the childrenin the world. But, because the heat burns as well as the cold pinches,it blooms nowadays at all times and seasons of the year. A few flowershere, a few there; but quite enough for any child to find--who hasthe right spirit."

  "Kitty must have had the spirit, mustn't she, Other Mother? That daywhen her feets were so tired and the good Feather-man found her.'Cause she had lots and lots of them; only she went to sleep and theyall solemned down. And----"

  Gaspar started suddenly and held up a warning hand. His quick ear hadcaught the sound of approaching feet, crushing boldly through thecavern, like the tread of one who knows his way well and is coming tohis own.

  Wahneenah had also heard, though she had continued her story, makingno sign that she was inwardly disturbed. But she now paused andlistened whether this footfall were one she knew, either of friend orfoe. Then a bush cracked behind them, and Gaspar's heart stood still,as the tall form of an Indian warrior pushed past them into thefirelight.