The Sun Maid: A Story of Fort Dearborn

  CHAPTER X.

  THE CAVE OF REFUGE.

  Three abreast, the chestnut in the middle, the fugitives from thedoomed village of Muck-otey-pokee rode like the wind in a straight,unswerving line across the prairie. After they had left a considerabledistance behind them, Wahneenah turned her stern face backward, andscanned the route over which they had passed; and when her keen visiondetected something like a group of glistening bayonets--to ordinarysight no larger than a point against the horizon--she abruptly doubledon her course, then made a sharp detour westward. She had earlydropped her own bridle, and had since guided her horse by her lowspoken commands, while in either hand she clutched a bit-ring of theSnowbird and Tempest. Her change of direction must have brought herall the more plainly into view of the pursuing soldiers, but in a fewmoments she had gained the shelter of a group of trees.

  These sprang, apparently, out of the midst of the plain, but she knewthat they really concealed the entrance to the underground pathway tothe cave; and once within their shelter, she paused to breathe andgaze upon the startled faces of her children.

  That of the Sun Maid was pale, indeed, with the excitement of this madride, but showed no fear; while Gaspar's, alas! wore an expression ofabject terror. His eyes stared wildly, his teeth were set, hisnostrils drawn and pinched. He was, his foster-mother saw, already onthe verge of a collapse.

  She leaped from her horse, and caught the fainting boy in her armswhile she directed the Sun Maid:

  "Jump down and tie the horses, as the Snake-Who-Leaps showed you, bytheir long bridles. In any case, there is little fear but they willstand. Then follow me."

  "But what ails my Gaspar, Other Mother?" asked the child, as shesprang from her saddle. "Did somebody hurt him when the guns fired?"

  "No. Tie the horses. He will be right soon. It is the fright. Makehaste, make haste!"

  "Yes, yes, I will. My dear old Feather-man taught Kitty everything.Every single thing about my Snowbird. I can fasten her all tight soshe will never, never get away, unless I let her. I will tie Gaspar's,too; and shall your Chestnut stay here with them two?"

  But for once Wahneenah did not stop to hear her darling out. She hadseen the deftness with which the little girl's small fingers hadcopied the instructions of her riding-master, and had wondered at itmany times. She trusted it now, knowing that the lad needed her firstcare, and meaning to carry him through the passage into the cave, thenreturn for the other. She knew, also, that if the soldiers she hadseen following them should come upon the tethered horses, the fact oftheir presence would betray her own. But from this possibility therewas no escape; and, had she known it, no need for such.

  She had scarcely laid the unconscious boy down upon the floor of herretreat when Kitty came flying down the tunnel, her task completed.

  "So quick, papoose?"

  "Yes. Every one is fastened to a pretty tree, and every one is glad.Why did we ride so fast, Wahneenah? It 'most took Kitty's breath outof her mouth. But I did like it till my Gaspar looked so queer. Is hesick, Other Mother? Why doesn't he speak to me?"

  "He is ill, in very fact, Girl-Child. Ill of terror. Young as he is,he has seen fearful sights, and they have hurt his tender heart. Buthe will soon be better; and when he is you must not talk to him of ourold home, or of our ride, or of anything except that we are makinganother little festival here in our cave. One more cup of water,papoose, but take care you do not slip when you dip it from thespring. We will bathe his face and rub his hands, and by and by hewill awake and talk."

  Then, leaving the lad to the ministrations of the child, and underpretence of making "all cosy for the picnic," Wahneenah spedcautiously back through the passage to the edge of the little grove,casting a searching glance in each direction. To her infinite relief,the glistening speck had vanished from the landscape, and sheconcluded that the white soldiers had ridden but a short distancenorth of the village, and then returned to it. She noticed with pridehow the little maid had fastened each of the brave animals that hadserved them so well in a spot where the grass was still green andplentiful, and that there was no need of her refastening the strapswhich held them.

  "Surely, her wisdom is more than mortal!" she exclaimed in delight;such as more cultured mothers feel when they discover that theirlittle ones are really gifted with the common intelligence that tothem seems extraordinary.

  Gaspar was awake, and looking about him curiously, when she got backinto the cavern; and, in response to his silent inquiry, she drew atree-branch before the opening and nodded smilingly:

  "That is to keep the sunshine out of the Dark-Eyes."

  "But--where are we? Why--oh! I remember! I remember! Must I always,always see such awful things? Is there no place in this world where Ican hide?"

  "Why, yes, Dark-Eye. There is just such a place; and we have found it.Don't you remember our sanctuary? Where the Black Partridge came toeat the fish you caught? Where we have such a store of good things putaside. Rest now, after your ride, and the White Papoose shall make apillow for you of the rushes I will pull. Then we'll shut the branchin close, like the curtain of our wigwam, and be as safe and happy asa bird in its nest."

  Wahneenah's assumed cheerfulness did not deceive, though it greatlycomforted, the terrified boy; and the quietude of the sheltered spot,added to its dimness and his own exhaustion, soon overcame him again,and his eyelids closed. But the sleep into which he drifted now was anatural and restful one, and he roused from it, at Kitty's summons,with something of his old courage--the courage which had made him ahero that day when he first rode the black gelding, and had used hisboyish strength to do a man's work.

  "When Other Mother did make a fire and cook us such a nice breakfast,we must eat it quick. Kitty's ready. Kitty's dreadful hungry, Kittyis. Is you hungry, too, Dark-Eye?"

  He had not thought that he was. But now that she mentioned it,he realized the fact. Fortunately, he was so young and healthythat the scenes through which he seemed destined to pass at suchfrequently-recurring intervals could not really affect his physicalcondition for any length of time. To see Wahneenah moving about thelittle cavern as calmly as if it were her daily habit to be there, andto catch the sound of the Sun Maid's joyous laughter, was to make thepresent seem the only reality.

  "Why, it's another picnic, isn't it? Did the things actually happenback there as I thought? Were we here all night? I used to have suchterrible dreams, when I lived at the Fort, that, when daylight came, Icould not forget them. I get confused between the dreams and the truethings."

  "An empty stomach makes a foolish head. Many a squaw is afraid of herwarrior before he breaks his morning fast, and finds him a lamb afterit is eaten," said Wahneenah, sententiously.

  "Gaspar is my warrior, Other Mother; but I am never afraid of him."

  "You are afraid of nothing, Kitty!" reproved the boy.

  "But I am! I am afraid I shall get nothing to eat at all, if you don'tcome!"

  So the children ate, and Wahneenah served them. She was herself tooanxious to partake of any food, and under her placid exterior she wasstraining every nerve to listen for any outward sounds which mightprove that their refuge had been discovered.

  But no sounds came to disturb them, and as the hours passed hopereturned to her; and when the Sun Maid had fallen asleep, weary offrolic, and Gaspar again questioned her concerning the morning, sheanswered, in good faith:

  "Probably, it was not half so bad as it seemed. There were many badIndians in the village, and it is likely for them that the whitesoldiers were searching. They must have gone away long since. By andby, if nothing happens, we will return to our own tepee, and forgetthis morning's fright. The Snake-Who-Leaps will be proud of his pupilsfor the way they rode at his bidding."

  A shiver ran through the lad's frame, and he crept within the shelterof Wahneenah's arm.

  "But did you not see what happened to him? He lies beneath thecurtains of your lodge, and he will teach us no more. A white soldiershot him. I saw him fall."

  The woman her
self had not seen this, and she now sprang to her feet ina fury of indignation.

  "A white man killed him! That grand old brave, who should have livedto be a hundred years! It cannot be."

  "But it was."

  She was the daughter of a mighty chief. Her blood was royal, and shegloried in it. All the race-hatred in her nature roused, and, for themoment only, she glowered upon the pale-faced youth before her, as ifhe represented, in his small person, all the sins of his own people.

  Then the paroxysm passed, and her nobler self triumphed. Sitting downagain, she sought to draw the boy back into her embrace, but he heldhimself aloof, and would not. So she began to talk with him there,with a simple wisdom and dignity that she had learned from natureitself.

  "Why should we be angry, one with another, my son? The Great Spirit isour Father. No man comes into life nor leaves it by a chance. What theMighty One decrees, that it is befalls. Between His red-skinnedchildren and His pale-faced ones He has put an undying enmity. I havenot always so believed. I have hoped and pleaded for the peace whichshould glorify the world, even as the sun is glorifying the wide landoutside of this dim cavern. But it is not so to be. Even as the chief,the Black Partridge, said: there is a feud which can never beovercome, for it is of the Great Spirit's own planting. He that madeus all permits it. Let us, then, in our small place, cease to fightagainst the inevitable. We have made the compact. We will abide by it.In a tiny corner of the beautiful world we three will live inharmony. Let the rest go. Put away your anger against my people, as Inow put aside mine against yours. The Sun Maid is of both races, itseems to me. She is our Bond, our Peace-maker, our Delight. Behold!She wakes. Before her eyes, let no shadow of our mutual trouble fall.I go outside to watch. If all seems well, we may ride home atnightfall."

  Save for the danger to her young charges, she would have done so eventhen. Far superior though she had always been to them, her heartyearned over the helpless women of her tribe whom she had left behind.

  "But that cannot be. They were tied fast by their motherhood to thehomes wherein they may have perished, even as I am tied here by myadopted ones. The beasts, too, are tied; but they, at least, may havea moment's freedom."

  So she loosed them, and guided them to the pool where they coulddrink, and watched them curiously, to see if they would availthemselves of the liberty she had thus offered. But they did not. Theyquaffed the clear water, then tossed their velvet nostrils about itsdepths till it was soiled and worthless; yet they turned of their ownaccord away from the wind-swept prairie into the shelter of the trees,and grouped themselves beneath one, as if uniting against some common,unseen enemy.

  "They are wiser than their masters," said Wahneenah, patting herChestnut's beautiful neck; and seeing a deeper glade, where they mightspend the night even more safely, she led them thither and fastenedthem again. Under ordinary circumstances she would have left themuntethered; but she knew not then at what moment she might again needthem, as they had been needed earlier in the day.

  When the darkness fell, Wahneenah put aside the brushwood door whichshe had placed before the entrance to the cave, and sat down upon thewithering branch to watch and wait. The children were both asleep, andshe knew that if the Black Partridge were still alive and able hewould seek her there, as he had promised on that day in the past whenthey had discussed the possibility of what had really now occurred.

  She was not to be disappointed. While she sat, contrasting thehappiness that had been hers on just the night before with theuncertainty of this, there sounded in the sloping tunnel the tread ofa moccasined foot. Also, she could hear the crowding of a stalwartfigure against its sides, and there was something in both sounds whichtold her who was coming.

  "My brother is late."

  "It is better thus, it may be, than not at all."

  "The voice of the Black Partridge is sorrowful."

  "The heart of the chief is broken within him."

  For a space after that neither spoke. Then Wahneenah rose and set acandle in a niche of the wall and lighted it. By its flame she couldsee to move about and she presently had brought some food in a dishand placed a gourd of water by the chief's side.

  The water he drank eagerly and held the cup for more; but the food hepushed aside, relapsing into another silence.

  Finally, Wahneenah spoke.

  "Has the father of his tribe no message for his sister?"

  "Over what the ear does not hear, the heart cannot grieve."

  "That is a truth which contradicts itself."

  "The warrior of Wahneenah judged well when he chose this cavern for apossible home."

  "It is needed, then? As the Black Partridge foretold."

  "It is needed. There is no other."

  The words were quietly spoken; but there was heart-break in each one.

  "Our village? The home of all our people? Is it not still safe and arefuge for all unfortunates among the nations?"

  "Where Muck-otey-pokee laughed by the waterside, there is now a heapof ruins. The river that danced in the sunlight is red with the bloodof the slain and of all the lodges wherein we dwelt, not one remains!"

  "My brother! Surely, much brooding has made you distraught. Suchcannot be. There were warriors, hundreds of them in the settlement andbefore their arrows the pale-faces fall like trees before thewoodman's axe."

  "If the arrows are not in the quiver, can the warrior shoot? Againstthe man who steals up in the rear, can one be prepared? It was ashort, sharp battle. The innocent fell with the guilty, and the earthreceives them all. Where Muck-otey-pokee stood is a blackened waste.Those who survived have fled, to seek new homes wherever they may findthem. In her pathways the dead faces stare into the sky as even yet,among the sandhills, lie and stare the unburied dead of the FortDearborn massacre. It is fate. It is nature. It is the game of life.To-day one wins, to-morrow another. In the end, for all--is death."

  For a while after that, Wahneenah neither moved nor spoke, and theBlack Partridge lapsed into another profound silence. Finally, thewoman rose, and going to the fireplace, took handsful of its ashes andstrewed them upon her head and face. Then she drew her blanket overher features, and thus, hiding her sorrow even from the witness of thenight, she sat down again in her place and became at once as rigidand impassive as her brother.

  Thus the morning found them. Despite their habit of wandering frompoint to point, the village of Muck-otey-pokee was the rallying-placeof the Pottawatomies, their home, the ancient burial-ground of theirdead. Its destruction meant, to the far-seeing Black Partridge, alsothe destruction of his tribe. Therefore, as he had said, his spiritwas broken within him.

  But at the last he rose to depart, and still fasting. With thesolemnity of one who parted from her forever, he addressed the veiledWahneenah and bade her:

  "Put aside the grief that palsies, and find joy in the children whomthe Great Spirit has sent you. They also are homeless and orphaned.There are left now no white soldiers to harry and distress. Thiscavern is warmer than a wigwam, and there is store of food for manymore than three. Remain here until the springtime and by then I mayreturn. I go now to my brother Gomo, at St. Joseph's, to counsel athis fireside on what may yet be done to save the remnant of ourpeople. You are safer here than in any village that I know. Farewell."

  But, absorbed in his own gloomy reflections, the Black Partridge foronce forgot his native caution; and without waiting to reconnoitre, hemounted his horse and rode boldly away from the shelter of the brushinto the broad light of the prairie and so due north toward thedistant encampment of his tribesmen.

  Yet the glittering eyes of a jealous Indian were watching him as herode. An Indian who had been sheltered by the hospitality of the greatchief, and for many months, in Muck-otey-pokee; but who had neithergratitude nor mercy in his heart, wherein was only room for treacheryand greed.

  As Black Partridge rode away from the cave by the river, the othermounted his horse and rode swiftly toward it.