But Shif'less Sol and Tom Ross were already in pursuit, covering the ground with long strides, and reloading as they ran.Under ordinary circumstances no one of the three would have fired at a man running for his life, but here the necessity was vital.If he lived, carrying the tale that he had to tell, a hundred innocent ones might perish.Henry followed his comrades, reloading his own rifle, also, but he stayed behind.The Indian had a good lead, and he was gaining, as the others were compelled to check speed somewhat as they put the powder and bullets in their rifles.But Henry was near enough to Shif'less Sol and Silent Tom to hear them exchange a few words.
"How far away is that savage?" asked Shif'less Sol.
"Hundred and eighty yards," said Tom Ross.
"Well, you take him in the head, and I'll take him in the body."Henry saw the two rifle barrels go up and two flashes of flame leap from the muzzles.The Indian fell forward and lay still.
They went up to him, and found that he was shot through the head and also through the body.
"We may miss once, but we don't twice," said Tom Ross.
The human mind can be influenced so powerfully by events that the three felt no compunction at all at the shooting of this fleeing Indian.It was but a trifle compared with what they had seen the day and night before.
"We'd better take the weapons an' ammunition o' both uv 'em,"said Sol."They may be needed, an' some o ' the women in that crowd kin shoot."They gathered up the arms, powder, and ball, and waited a little to see whether the shots had been heard by any other Indians, but there was no indication of the presence of more warriors, and the rejoined the fugitives.Long Jim had dropped back to the end of the line, and when he saw that his comrades carried two extra rifles, he understood.
"They didn't give no alarm, did they?" he asked in a tone so low that none of the fugitives could hear.
"They didn't have any chance," replied Henry."We've brought away all their weapons and ammunition, but just say to the women that we found them in an abandoned house."The rifles and the other arms were given to the boldest and most stalwart of the women, and they promised to use them if the need came.Meanwhile the flight went on, and the farther it went the sadder it became.Children became exhausted, and had to be carried by people so tired that they could scarcely walk themselves.There was nobody in the line who had not lost some beloved one on that fatal river bank, killed in battle, or tortured to death.As they slowly ascended the green slope of the mountain that inclosed a side of the valley, they looked back upon ruin and desolation.The whole black tragedy was being consummated.They could see the houses in flames, and they knew that the Indian war parties were killing and scalping everywhere.
They knew, too, that other bodies of fugitives, as stricken as their own, were fleeing into the mountains, they scarcely knew whither.
As they paused a few moments and looked back, a great cry burst from the weakest of the women and children.Then it became a sad and terrible wail, and it was a long time before it ceased.It was an awful sound, so compounded of despair and woe and of longing for what they had lost that Henry choked, and the tears stood in Paul's eyes.But neither the five nor Carpenter made any attempt to check the wailing.They thought it best for them to weep it out, but they hurried the column as much as they could, often carrying some of the smaller children themselves.
Paul and Long Jim were the best as comforters.The two knew how, each in his own way, to soothe and encourage.Carpenter, who knew the way to Fort Penn, led doggedly on, scarcely saying a word.Henry, Shif'less Sol, and Tom were the rear guard, which was, in this case, the one of greatest danger and responsibility.
Henry was thankful that it was only early summer the Fourth of July, the second anniversary of the Declaration of Independence-and that the foliage was heavy and green on the slopes of the mountain.In this mass of greenery the desolate column was now completely hidden from any observer in the valley, and he believed that other crowds of fugitives would be hidden in the same manner.He felt sure that no living human being would be left in the valley, that it would be ravaged from end to end and then left to desolation, until new people, protected by American bayonets, should come in and settle it again.
At last they passed the crest of the ridge, and the fires in the valley, those emblems of destruction, were hidden.Between them and Fort Penn, sixty miles away, stretched a wilderness of mountain, forest, and swamp.But the five welcomed the forest.
A foe might lie there in ambush, but they could not see the fugitives at a distance.What the latter needed now was obscurity, the green blanket of the forest to hide them.
Carpenter led on over a narrow trail; the others followed almost in single file now, while the five scouted in the woods on either flank and at the rear.Henry and Shif'less Sol generally kept together, and they fully realized the overwhelming danger should an Indian band, even as small as ten or a dozen warriors, appear.
Should the latter scatter, it would be impossible to protect all the women and children from their tomahawks.
The day was warm, but the forest gave them coolness as well as shelter.Henry and Sol were seldom so far back that they could not see the end of the melancholy line, now moving slowly, overborne by weariness.The shiftless one shook his head sadly.
"No matter what happens, some uv 'em will never get out o' these woods."His words came true all too soon.Before the afternoon closed, two women, ill before the flight, died of terror and exhaustion, and were buried in shallow graves under the trees.Before dark a halt was made at the suggestion of Henry, and all except Carpenter and the scouts sat in a close, drooping group.Many of the children cried, though the women had all ceased to weep.
