§
MEYERSDALE COMMERCIAL, THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 1929
Page Seven
The Rec
1 Romance of Z
Braddock: Defeat 7
\
HueH PENDEXTER
ae
ustrations by
lawin Myers
1
| THE STORY
i .
A
CHAPTER I—Impoverished by th
open-handed generosity of his father,
Virginia gentleman, young Webster
fond is serving as a scout and s)y
for the army under General Braddock
reparing for the advance on’ Fort
uquesne. He has just returned to
Alexandria from a visit to the fort,
where, posing as a Frenchman, he nas
secured valuable information. Brad-
dock, bred to European warfare, fails
to realize the importance of the news
{Brond is sent back to Fort Duquesne,
aiso bearing a message to George
Croghan, English emissary among the
Indians.
CHAPTER I1.—Brond joins his friend
and fellow scout, Round Paw, Indian
chief, and they set out. On the way
they fall in with a typical backswoods-
man, Balsar Cromit, who
The party encounters a group of set-
tlers threatening a young girl, Elsie
Dinwold, whom they accuse of witch-
craft. Brond saves her from them. The
‘girl disappears.
CHAPTER III—Webster delivers his
message to Croghan, who expresses un-
easiness at the apathy of the Indians
to the English cause. Young
George Washington rescues
from bullying nglish soldiers.
worsts a bully .n a fight, and finds
Elsie Dinwold. Brond is sent on a
scouting expedition to Fort Duquesne,
and leaves with Round Paw. Cromit
Joins them.
CHAPTER 1V—They find a French
scouting party besieging an old cabin
idefended apparently by a single man.
Brond and Cromit make their way to
{the cabin. The “man” is Elsie Dinwold.
{A French officer and an Indian break
iin the door. Cromit kills the Indian and
{Brond takes the Frenchman alive. Elsie
escapes during the fight. Brond’s cap-
tive is Lieutenant Beauvais. The scout
isends him as a prisoner, with Cromit,
to Braddock’s camp, again taking-his
way to Duquesne, and to seek Elsie.
CHAPTER V—Carrying out his plan
to enter the fort unquestioned, Brond
resolves to visit an Indian town which
& woman sachem, Allaquippa, controls.
She is friendly to the English. The
scouts, as French, are plainly unwel-
come to Allaquippa. Brond meets a
French officer, Falest, whom he had
known at Duquesne. Falest is there
to win over Allaquippa to the French
cause, but he fails. To his astgnish-
‘ment, Brond finds Elsie Dinwold,
dressed as a man, under Allaquippa’s
iproteéetion. The girl tells him she has
{tound the English cruel, and is going
ito the French. Unable to dissuade her,
,Brond tells her of his mission to D
‘quesne, and she promises not to be-
(tray him. They learn Beauvais has es-
icaped from Cromit and is on his way
‘to Duquesne. Brond realizes he must be
stopped.
'! CHAPTER VI—Cromit comes to
Brond while he is waiting to inter-
cept Beauvais, and tells hi he nas
killed the Frenchman after had es-
jcaped from him. Round Paw joins
them, and the three return io Alla-
quippa’s town. Cromit has brought dis-
quieting news of the demoralization
vf Braddock’s army, none of the Eng-
[lish officers understanding woods fight-
iirg, and Braddock fiercely resenting
‘advice of the “Provincial.” Cromit,
separated from hie two friends, is wel-
jcomed by Allaguippa as an English-
iman. leaving nim to carry news te tke
{English army, Brond and Rouud Paw
reach Duquesne. Brond is made wel-
come, Beaujeu, commander of the fort,
ibelieving hi’: a loyal Frenchman. He
{learns Beauvais is not dead, Cromi*
{having killed Falest, taking him for
ithe other French officer. Brond real-
{izes he is in deadiy peril. He decides
(to get away at once, and tells Elsie,
who has come to the fort with Beau-
vais, but it is too late.
CHAPTER VII—At a dinner given
by Beaujeu to his officers Brond is
|recognized and denounced by Brauvais
% With the Indian, and
| Elsie, Brond escapes by the river, Elsie
having destroyed all the canoes she
could reach, to delay pursuit. Leaving
the water, Brond sends Round Paw
, with a message to the army warning
‘of danger of ambush if they take the
“Turtle Creek” route to the fort. Then,
with Elsie, a great handicap to swift
| traveling, he takes a different route to
the army, in the hope that either Round
aw, Cromit, or himself, will
through safely with the warning.
CHAPTER VIII—Brond realizes ‘a
(party of pursuing Indians is on their
trail. The girl, having reached the
limit of her endurance, has to be car-
ried by Brond. They make for the
cabin of a trader, Frazier, hoping with
his help to stand off pursuers. Reach-
ing the cabin safely, they find Frazier
away, but Elsie helps greatly in the
defense of the place. They succeed in
beating off the attacking Indians, and
during a heavy rain, which saves them,
escape. Elsie's bravery and loyalty
make a rdeep impression on Brond. In
the woods they meet a veteran Vir-
inia forest fighter, Stephen Gist, re-
urning from a scouting expedition.
CHAPTER IX-—Gist repeats Cromit’s
tale of demoralization among the Eng-
lish regulars. Round Paw joins the
party and they reach the army. Elsie
refuses to seek safety in the rear, in-
sisting on :taying and sharing Brond’'s
dangers. Braddock ignores Brond's
warning of danger. Brond again meets
Colonel Washington, who confesses
his misgivings of the success of the
expedition. Attacked in. the forest by
ractically invisible enemies, the Eng-
fish regulars are thrown into con-
fusion. A disorderly retreat begins
when Braddock is killed. Washington
and his Virginians hold back the en-
, preventing annihilation. Brond
finds a place of safety for Elsie. Round
Paw and Cromit are both killed, Brond,
badly wounded, escaping with the
other fugitives. He is unable to find
Elsle in the confusion.
CHAPTER X—The provinces are
stunned by the news of the disaster.
{lhe English army is withdrawn to
‘New York, leaving the provincizls to
| hold back the victorious savages,
drunk with victory. Brond recovers
ifrom his wounds and joins in the de-
|fense of the frontier. The situation is
‘not relleved until General Forbes
fights his way through to Duquesne.
Then Brond continues his search for
| Blsie Dinwold, realizing he loves her,
,and believing his love returned. In a
‘hamlet he finds one of the men in
iwhose charge he had left the girl. He
tells Brond Elsie went to Alexandria,
|and Brond at once leaves for that city.
{There he meets a boyhood friend,
iJosephine Hewitt. She has befriended
{Elsie and given her a home. Brond
‘seeks her, and finds a happy ending of
his quest when Elsie, in his arms,
Thishers, “Oh, mister. You've come
ack!
!
get
| behind it
joins them.
The order of march from the sec-
| ond ford had the guides and engineers
! and six
light horse following the
scouts. Gage’s detachment and the
working party under St. Clair came
next. Some distance behind these
last came the line, preceded by light
horse with four squads acting as
flankers. Then followed the sailors
and a subaltern proudly leading
twenty grenadiers, one twelve-pounder
supported by a company of grenadiers.
The vanguard proper followed, and
came the artillery and
wagon-trains, and the rear-guard.
Flanking parties were out on both
sides.
I saw nothing of Cromit and had
time only to wave my hand to Busby
before the Onondaga had led me
around a bend in the road. Ai that
time General Braddock with the main
army was well back toward the ford,
and the advance column of some three
hundred men was well-advanced be-
yond a cross-ravine. Half-way be-
tween these two divisions was another
column of two hundred men.
Mad we scouted the ravine it would
have been an easy matter for Gage’s
pioneers to have taken possession of
it. Gage’s command had passed be-
yond the spot where the main battle
was soon to be fought and must have
just finished ascending the second
gentle slope when the Onondaga gave
an explosive grunt, seized my arm,
and pulled me behind some trees. I
saw figures moving toward us from
the direction of the fort, but suppos-
ing them to be some of the enemy’s
scouts reconnoitering the army.
“They are charging us!” cried the
Onondaga. And sounding his war-
whoop he fired at the figures now
swiftly bounding forward.
I also fired and stopped a savage.
But I did not believe the affair would
amount to anything more than an ex-
change of shots between the scouts
until 1 recognized Captain Beaujeu at
‘the head of a mixed force of French
and Indians. On the breast of his
fringed hunting-shirt was a silver
gorget, a pleasing target had I not
emptied my rifle at the savage.
A moment after I fired, Beaujeu
halted and waved his hat above his
head, and the Indians scattered to left
and right. I would have believed the
enemy was retreating had aot the
Canadians and regulars remained to
hold the road against zz.
While 1 was reloading, Mr. Gordon
of the engineers came up and was the
first of the regulars to behold the ene-
my. It seemed to be a most foolhardy
thing for two hundred Frenchman to
dispute the Duquesne road against our
proud army. 1 began to realize we
were in for something more than a
skirmish when a heavy fire opened on
us from ahead and from both sides.
Round Paw and 1 both hugged the
ground and retired to the right.
A terrific howling and yelling was
started by the savages, a sinister
chorus that encompassed the road for
some distance. Gage’s troops seemed
to be confused by the fiendish clamor
and the invisibility of the foe. The
men staggered under the cruel fire,
then rallied and began emptying their
muskets in volleys. But there was
nothing to shoot at except the slim
French force ahead. Before they could
fall back from the jaws of the trap.
St. Clair’'s working force came up on
the run to pile confusion on confusion.
Gage felt the reinforcements behind
him and ordered his men to charge
straight ahead and eliminate the
Frenchmen. The head of his column
was speedily wiped out, and the rest
were sadly staggered by the fierce
fire. ; ka
A gun was rushed up to support the
pioneers, and at the third discharge
of the piece, Beaujeu fell dead, dying
gallantly as became a Chevalier of
St. Louis. Captain Dumas took his
place, and for a while the fighting was
stubbornly maintained by both sides,
with. neither, apparently, securing any
distinct advantage, but with the Eng-
lish sustaining heavy punishment.
General Braddock persisted in sending
heavy masses of men up the road,
whereas he should have fallen back
until he could have cleared the woods
on both sides of the road.
During this portion of the fight, the
Onondaga and I shifted about and
took turns firing, and taking care that
one of our rifles should be loaded at
all times. On three different occa-
sions we were charged by small bands
of savages, but the second unexpected
shot from behind the same tree al-
ways Spoiled the attack and sent the
red man back to where the killing was
easier.
Then Braddock’s mechanical ~dis-
cipline began to give ground before
the marksmanship of the enemy. We
sealed our fate by remaining astrad-
dle the ravine. Braddock, furious al-
most to the point of incoherency,
pushed Burton forward with the van-
guard, thus making the congestion
worse; for the road was but twelve
feet wide.
Burton formed his troops under a
most galling fire. and had just finished
the difficult maneuver when Gage'’s
forces fell back rapidly to form be-
hind him.
Then occurred the definite shift in
our faring. We had been sustaining
terrible punishment, the penalty of
being caught in column, but we had
the superiority of numbers to permit
heavy losses. But now the two regi-
ments became badly mixed and stum-
bled about in the smoke-filled road
like sheep. There was smoke every-
where. The woods were choked with
it, the road was blotted out at times
by it. Sheets of fire rippled along the
very edges of the narrow way. The
two regimental colors were advanced
in opposite directions. The officers
were being picked off at an alarming
rate, and the regulars had not been
taught self-dependence.
Some of the enemy’s guns were
thrust from the foliage into the very
faces of the victims. There were
many soldiers in that battle who did
not see an Indian. Down the line
they were delivering their tire at two
hundred yards, thereby throwing it
away. With the ancient forest closely
hemming in the road, with no foe vis
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With the Ancient Forest Closely
Hemming In the Road, With No Foe
Visible, the Army Was as Helpless
as a Blind Man.
ible, the army was as helpless as a
blind man.
It has been repeatedly charged
again Braddock that he had no flank-
ers out on the Wednesday afternoon
of July ninth. Such statements are
untrue. We had flankers out a hun-
dred yards or more on both sides of
the army, but we did not scout far
enough ahead of the army. There
was no ambuscade, however. Once
the fighting commenced, the flankers
were shot down by the haphazard vol-
leys of our own artillery. How many
Englishmen and provincials England
killed that day will never be known,
but the French and their allies ac-
-counted for only a portion of our dead
and wounded.
As Round Paw and 1 fell back
through the woods on the right of the
road and risked death at every step
from the fire of our own men, I caught
a glimpse of General Braddock. His
horse was down and he was striking a
man with the flat of his sword to
drive him from the shelter of a tree
where the fellow had very sensibly
taken refuge. The man returned to
the middle of the road and fell dead.
An aide supplied the commander
with a fresh mount, just as young
Washington, bare-headed, his eyes
blazing, reined in his frantic horse and
loudly urged, “Get them out of this
slaughter-pen! Into the woods!”
“By G—d, I'm commander here, sir!
They'll fight here! We must ad-
vance!” roared the general, his heavy
face suffused with anger. “You d—d
sheep, close up! Close up there!”
The last to a squad of men who were
trying to tree themselves. And he
was riding them down to get back into
the road to be slaughtered like sheep.
Sir Peter Halket, who with four hun-
dred men was guarding the baggage
train, came through the thick smoke
and yelled a request that the men be
ordered to find shelter.
“Damnation!” thundered the gen-
eral. “Did 1 lead his majesty’s reg
ulars out here to hide from a parcel
of naked red beggars? Advance! We
must advance!” Then he was raging
down on those delinquents, whose
years of training were being swept
aside by the instinct of self-preserva-
tion. “Curse you! Get back there!”
And the flat of his sword beat them
soundly over head and shoulders.
Washington wheeled, his horse
bumping into Sir Peter's mount, and
either to that gentleman, or in apos:
trophe to the whole terrible situation,
he cried:
“By G—d! My Virginians shan’t be
slaughtered!” With that he was
plunging through the smoke to the
edge of the growth where Round Paw
and 1, and some riflemen, were treeing
ourselves. He shouted, “Captain Wag-
.goner, tree yourselfi Clear this side
of the road!” 7
Captain Waggoner raised his hand
and penetrated deeper into the
growth. Eighty men, all excellent rifle
shots, streamed after him. The Onon-
daga and I kept abreast of the cap-
tain. He did not attempt to make his
voice heard above the infernal din,
but pointed to the rising ground, on
the brow of which extended a fallen
tree that must have measured at the
least five feet in diameter. Once pe-
‘to reach the wagon train.
‘the foliage.
.the cover.
hind that stout barricade I knew Wag.
goner's men would soon clear that
side of the road, and then could circle
around the head of the army and
drive the savages from the terrible
ravine. Now we were in the trap;
General Braddock’s solution wus the
only one. The army must advance.
We lost three men by the enemy hy
gaining the. hill; and then the crazy
mob in the road poured a volley into
our rear that killed fifty men!
A few remained on the hill for
safety’s sake. The rest took their
luck below in the woods, striving to
keep on the outskirts of the enemy's
line. The Onondaga and 1 fell back
fighting from tree to tree and striving
The after-
noon was wea.ing away and from the
triufiphant howls of the French In-
‘dians we knew the army was prac
tically surrounded. The Onondaga,
glistening with sweat and ferocious
for closer fighting, yelled in my ear:
“They say we shall die like brave
men !”
] did not desire to be slaughtered
-as the uselessly heroic never appealed
to me. But the Dinwold giri was
cooped up inside the devilish circle
and there are certain things a man
must always do. She was of my race
and 1 was especially bound to find
her. With the Onondaga the case was
different. He had a fair chance of
winning clear of the terrible mistake.
and I urged him to do so. He asked
me if I would keep with him. and when
1 answered that 1 must find the witch
woman he whooped hoarsely and took
the lead in a line that ran parallel
to the blood-soaked road.
We heard the drums sound the re-
treat and knew that Braddock was
dead or had lest his haughty pride.
We heard the firing down the/line as
the enemy attacked Halket’'s men at
the baggage-train, and frown the les-
sening volume of the return fire we
knew our losses must be tremendous.
or else the ammunition was failing.
At the time Braddock ordered the
retreat to be sounded only a third of
the army was left. We learned that
much afterward. The smoke made it
impossible to see clearly, and the indi-
vidual combats between rangers and
savages served to confuse further our
sense of direction. 1 remember the
Onondaga giving a mighty grunt as
he crashed his ax through the head
of a Huron who bumped into us. 1
recall mechanically staving in another
red skull with the butt of my loaded
rifle. And then to my surprise both
the Indian and 1 were in the road,
surrounded by the dead and dying,
and those who fired blindly, and more
‘often killed a friend than they wound-
ed a foe.
“These men are fools!” cried the
Onondaga, dodging a blow from a
musket swung by a madman. “The
woods! The woods!” |
But now we were in the road it was
most difficult to leave it without be-
ing shot in the back ;/yet to remain in
the frenzied crowd meant death with-
out a chance to strike back. We were
‘only a short distance above the bag-
gage-train, and toward it we began
making our way. Guns were spurting
flame from the bushes at our feet.
The guards were pointing their mus-
kets high and firing thin volleys into
Once the retreat was
sounded a panic had seized upon the
survivors, and in a stumbling, insane
rush those who could walk made a
last attempt to reach the river.
The howling of the Indians in-
creased in volume as they realized
the extent of their unexpected
triumph. A few hours back the fort
Indians had flatly refused to follow
Beaujeu, and now they were lusting
like demons to kill, kill, until not an
Englishman was left alive. The sav-
ages, observing the mad fear now pos-
sessing the army, grew bolder and
began to appear from behind the
great trees, from under the grape and
pea-vines, and through the tall grass.
Gory hands darted out to seize some
dead or dying man and drag him into
The best equipped and
proudest army Engiand had ever sent
to North America was a rabble of
crazy men.
Captain Orme of the regulars, and
Captain Stewart of the Virginia rifle- |
men, aided by another American of-
ficer 1 did not know, came through
the mass bearing a heavy figure. It
was General Braddock and he was
puffing for breath and was wounded
through the chest.
“Braddock’s killed! Braddock’s
killed I” was the despairing cry raised
as the commander was earried to the
rear. -
“Rally the fools at
gasped the commander.
“Braddock’s killed!” howled a drill
sergeant, although he must have
beard his general speak.
And he danced up ang down until
red hands shot out from the bushes
and caught him by the ankles and
jerked him from our sight.
Colonel Washington now had all
the riflemen fighting in the Indian
fashion, and only his maneuver saved
the army from being annihilated. As
it was, four hundred and fifty officers
and men were dead, slain outright,
and nearly as many more wounded.
Out of eighty-nine commissioned of-
ficers sixty-three were killed or
wounded; and not a field-officer had
escaped unhurt. Lean Virginians
from behind trees were shouting en-
couragement to one another and eall-
ing for the regulars to fall back out
of the way and cross the river. It
was the first time our. riflemen and
England’s carefully drilled regulars
had gone into battle together, and ai-
ready the colonials were discovering
they were better men for forest fight-
ing.
With the shattered army in a wild
rout the Onondaga and I fell pack to
the wagons where 1 had left the girl
the forg,”
I stepped over a man dying from ar-
row wounds and would have left him
had 1 not recognized him as Busby,
my old playmate. This was a sorry
ending of all our boyish dreams, when
we played at Indian fighting and al-
ways emerged the victors. For love
of the old days, 1 caught him around
the shoulders and yelled for the Onon
daga to pick him up by the heels. The
Indian had no desire to interrupt his
fighting by helping one as good as
dead. Yet he would not leave me,
and he did as 1 directed, and we man-
aged to get Busby to the first wagon.
Busby stared at me vacantly at first,
then knew me, and tried to pull me
down to him. [I kneeled and he faint
ly whispered: “What d—d fools we've
been, Web. Tell Joe I'm sorry.”
It was his last effort,
dead when 1 straightened up The
savages were now assaulting the
wagons from both sides. We fought
our way through the terribly. unequal
melee. It did look as if not a man
would survive the day unless it be
some of those who had taken to trees
outside the road, or who had cut the
horses loose from the wagons and had
fled at the beginning of the battle.
Dunbar the Tardy was still in the
rear. It was just as well. The more
men crowding into the road simply
meant more victims.
“This way, DBrond! Brown-hair’s
here!” howled a voice in my ear.
Cromit was speaking. His mouth was
fixed in a ghastly grin, his eyes set
and staring. He was bleeding from
a wound in the head.
“This is a severe wring,” he shouted,
and fired a soldier's musket at a
painted face showing at the side of a
tree,
Then with a screech that sounded
above the groans and shrieks of the
wounded and the yells of the savages.
he dived into the bushes. The next
moment he staggered back into the
yoad, with a knife buried in his breast,
and yet dragging after him a stalwart
Ottawa he had clutched by the throat.
The two fell at our feet, and with a
final effort Cromit tore the red throat
open; and so the two died and went
among the ghosts.
Dan Morgan was down and the
witch-girl was standing over him. an
ax in one hand, her pistol in the
other. /
“Get ot of here! Go to the river!”
1 cried to her.
“Can’t leave him,” she panted. “Kiss
me, mister!”
‘1 kissed her, believing it was very
close to the last act in my life. And
1 pitied her as 1 had never pitied any
one in my life. Morgan got up on
his knees. He had been shot through
the back of the neck, the ball passing
through his mouth and taking several
teeth with it. He gained his feet and
pushed the girl toward us.
“Must git hoss!” he told me as 1
seized the girl and began working my
way along the wagons. Many of the
drivers already were in flight, each to
announce himself to be the only sur-
vivor of the massacre, and I despaired
of securing an animal for the girl.
Morgan went ahead; after the girl
came the Onondaga and myself, Round
Paw endeavored to shield her from
the cross-fire of the hidden savages.
He reeled, then raised his war-whoop
and swung his ax, and I saw the white
paw on the chest was turning crimson.
"A wounded Potawatomi rolled from
the bushes like a dying snake and
coiled about his legs in an attempt
to trip him and bring bim to the
ground. Round Paw quieted him with
a swing of the ax and shouted:
“Yo-hah! It is good. They say two
very brave men will soon die! Yo-
hah!” Then in a mighty voice he told
the concealed foe:
“l am a man of the Wolf clan. My
teeth are sharp. Ho! Ho! Come on
“and help a brave man die like a chief.”
He would have penetrated the cover
in search of a worthy antagonist had
1 not forcibly restrained him. Dead
man, dying men, crazy men; and the
last were the worst of all. We rap
almost as much risk from our own
soldiers as we did from the fort In-
dians. Especially was this true con:
cerning the Onondaga. Morgan was
keeping his feet bravely and the girl
was willingly accompanying him, and
even helping him, so long as her back-
ward giances told her the Onondaga
and I were following. But did we
pause to meet a rush from the woods.
then did she hold back and attempt
to gain my side.
With a hoarse cry Morgan seized a
horse by the nose as the frightened
animal burst through the bushes and
into the road. Other hands tried to
appropriate the prize, but I brushed
them back and tossed the girl on the
back of the crazed brute. Morgan mo-
tioned for me to mount.
“Take her out of this! For G—d's
sake lose no time!” I cried.
“She sorter seems to like you—" he
began, but I lifted him up and placed
him behind her and struck the horse
on the flank with my rifle-barrel.
I knew she cried out although 1
could not hear what she said. She
made to dismount, but young Morgan
passed an arm around her slim waist,
and the horse plunged down the road
toward the ford. But I shall never
forget the expression of her small face
as she stared helplessly back at me
and the Onondaga.
During this brief bit of action the
Indian had been wounded again, this
time in the head. We fell back, shoul-
der to shoulder. An arrow whipped
into my arm and the ouundaga broke
off the quivering shaft. Arrow or bul
let raked my forehead and threatened
to fill my eyes with blood had I not
snatched a neck-cloth from a dead
man’s neck and improvised a bandage.
The savages were now overrunning
the first division of wagons, succumb-
ing to their lust for plunder. Only
this avariciousnese saved those in the
road below the wagons from being ex
and he was
terminated. As it was, fifty of the
Indians pursued us to the Mononga-
hela and killed almost at every step.
The regulars had thrown away arms,
accouterments and clothing and, whgp
overtaken, died stupidly like oxen.
The curt crack of the rifles on each
side of the road marked the cool re
treat of our provincials. They were
fighting steadily and composedly, and
their resistance discouraged a tinal
onslaught that might have cost the
life of every Englishman on the fort
side of the river. We were within a
tew rods of the river, which was filled
with frantic fugitives, when five of
the pursuing savages closed in on
Round Paw and me. 1 had the barrel
of my rifle left and my ax. One man
went down beneath the barrel. | slipped
and fell on him. A knife stabbed
through the calf of my left leg, but
the man under me was dead.
“Yo-hah! Tell his ghost 1 sent
you!” yelled the Onondaga. and my
assailant fell dead across me.
I got to my feet and beheld the Ob
ondaga in the clutches of two savages,
the fifth having passed on to overtake
other victims. Before I could lend a
hand one of my friend’s assailants, an
Ottawa, choked and went limp with
Round Paw’s knife through his throat.
“They say a brave man of the Wolf
clan of the Onondaga will soon die!”
panted Round Paw, and he essayed
to sound his war-whoop as he and the
remaining savage wound their arms
about each other and fell.
I pawed them apart and raised my
ax, but the French Indian was dying
by the time I could yank him clear
of my friend. He was a Mingo, one of
the Senecas who had preferred the
Ohio to the Genesee.
“A brave man has killed me,” he
faintly said.
The Onondaga propped himself up
on one elbow and feebly waved his
ax, but his voice rang out so strong
1 did not believe he was seriously
hurt. He proudly proclaimed:
“Yo-hah! A good fight! This man
did me a very great honor. He fought
well. But the Wolf has strong sharp
teeth—Ha-hum-web — Ha-hum-weh—
Ha-hum-weh—"
And he dropped dead across the
body of the dead man who had killed
him.
I entered the river above the ford
to escape the crowd of fugitives, some
of whom were drowned in their mad
haste to make the crossing. Busby,
Cromit and Round Paw had paid the
price of a stubborn man’s ignorance.
Of all those who would never return
from the fatal errand 1 would miss
the Oncndaga the most; and after him
Cromit of the mighty hands. And
there was another ache in my heart as
I visioned the fair Josephine, waiting
in old Alexandria for her lover to re-
turn. Out of twenty-nine gallant men
to ride from the old town, only four
were to go back.
My last backward glance at the ford
beheld Colonel Washington’s horse
crumpling beneath him. At first [I
thought he, as well as his mount, was
hit. But he was quickly up and
catching a riderless horse and swing-
ing into the saddle. Then, with his
back to the ford, he rode through the
trees. now vanishing, now appearing,
and close in front of him was a fringe
of his riflemen, fighting calmly and
deliberately. This action of the rear-
guard was made up of many individual
duels. The Virginians’ trick of having
two men behind a tree inveigled many
a screaming savage into the path of
a deadly bullet. A rifleman would fire,
when sure of his target, and some
painted warriors would rush to dis-
patch him before he could reload. His
companion would fire and check the
charge. This was repeatedly done,
and done as calmly and coolly as a
man would work in curing his tobacco.
There was no pursuit beyond the
ford, although only weariness, or their
love of plunder, prevented them from
killing us for many a long mile. Later
the colonies learned that Dunbar’s
retreat was unexpected and the
French hastened back to the fort, still
believing they would be attacked
Those who had fled on horses were
well on their way to the first Cross-
ing, or far beyond it.
1 suppose it was the evening of
that same day that I came to a stum-
bling halt at the edge of an opening
and stared across a large cleared
space. The spot was familiar, and
with a shock 1 suddenly discovered
it was on the Allegenhy and about
half a mile above Duquesne. | did
not lose my wits again. From that
moment on my memory fs painfully
exact.
Savages were singing and dancing
around some stakes. 1 counted twelve
of the stakes, and to each was fas-
tened an inert charred figure. From
the red coats and other trophies be-
ing displayed 1 knew the dead men
had been regulars #nd that they had
died by torture. 1 was glad they were
through with all and were beyond all
further misery.
I must have been very weak when 1
came to my senses on the edge of the
clearing, for I could not have tasted
food during my blind wanderings.
The shock of the twelve stakes, how-
ever, gave me something that an-
swered for physical strength, and 1
fell back rapidly from the dangerous
neighborhood.
There were no Indians abroad in
the forest, for none was willing to
miss the feasting and drinking and
torture, let alone the distribution of
the rich booty. Moving painfully and
without sighting any human being 1
came to the rough country at the
head of Turtie creek and forded and
gained the army's camp on Rush
creek. It did not seem possible that
seventy-odd hours before Braddock’s
army had halted here. That was far
back among the old things, as the
Indians would have expressed it.
+ New,
Then by slow stages T followed the
Braddock road back to the Great
Meadows. All along the road were
muskets and accouterments, discarded
by those who had passed. over the
road ahead of me; and there was no
need to be saving of powder and lead.
It did seem as if all the buzzards
in North America had come to west-
ern Pennsylvania, and never have I
seen bears so plentiful. There is a
story based on the Monongahela bat-
tle to the effect that the bears grew
to have a contempt for human beings
after eating the dead of Braddock’s
army. | never placed credence in the
story, but I can vouch that the brutes
were not easily frightened by my ap-
poach. [I shot several but depended
upon rabbits, turkeys and a deer for
food. More than once I had to fight
my nerves before 1 could approach a
huddled form in the road ahead, fear-
ing it might be the girl. Just beyond
the Meadows 1 came upon three men.
cooking deer-meat over a little fire.
They were wild-looking creatures and
at my approach sprang up and
snatched for their guns. :
“Have any of you seen a wagoner
on a horse, Dan Morgan by name?”
I called to them. “And was he rid-
ing double with a fellow younger
than he?”
“Devil take your man Morgan and
t'other feller!” cried one of them.
“Git out of sight afore I lose my pa-
tience. 1 promised my younkers a
French sculp. By the Eternal!
Your hair might do just as well! Fat
crops in and growing, and now we
must quit ‘em and fort ourselves.
Curse the day we ever heard the name
of Braddock.”
“We’ll do our own fighting in our
own way next time,” bawled one of
the other men.
His words fell idly on my ears yet I
was to live to recall them, and to
realize the fellow had unwittingly
uttered the one great truth that the
battle of the Monongahela taught us
—self-dependence. From the begin-
ning of the colonies, we had relied
on England, and now that the best
she could give us for our protection
had miserably failed, we were to learn.
self-reliance, and the few long rifles
that allowed a fragment of the army
to escape across the second ford were
in my day to increase to thousands.
But that knowledge was all ahead of
me; and dishearted at not finding
some trace of Morgan and the Din-
wold girl I left the sullen trio and
continued my weary journey.
CONTINUED NEXT WEEK
How the Useful Plants
Came to Mankind
By T. E. STEWARD
WNU Service
The Banana
Boranisrs know positively that
the banana is a native of south-
eastern Asia and that it grows wild
in the Malay states, Ceylon, and Co-
chin, China, but an unsettled argu-
ment still goes on as to whether or
not it is also a native of the New
world. In the cultivation of the ba-
nana and in giving it commercial im-
portance, American countries have
long surpassed all other districts. But
a summary of the evidence seems to
indicate that it is an Old world plant,
coming originally from the Malay
peninsula, whence it was carried to
India, theace to Africa and, finally, to
America by the early Portuguese and
Spanish explorers and settlers.
This famous fruit, then, is a heri-
tage of mankind from prehistoric days.
Greek, Latin and Arab literatures re-
fer to it as a remarkable plant of
India.
Nowhere in the accounts of New
world travels and conquests by Colum-
bus, Pinzon, Vespucci or Cortez is the
banana mentioned. Later writers,
however, begin to include it among the
native products of America.
Humboldt, one of the greatest of.
naturalists and a famous student of
Latin-American plants and animals, is
the chief among those who have held -
to the belief that the banana is a na-
tive of the western continents. Proof
is incontestable that it is native of
the Old world, Humboldt’s argument
being that it is also native to the
At one place in his writings
he said:
“On the banks of the Orinoco, of
the Cassiquaire or of the Beni rivers,
between the mountains of Esmeralda
and the banks of the River Carony, in
the midst of the thickest forests, al-
most everywhere taat Indian tribes:
are found who have had ne relation
with European settlements, we meet
with plantations of manioc and ba-
nanas.”
Those who oppose him point to the
scarcity of Indian names free from
Spanish influence used to describe the
fruit and to the fact that in neither
of the ancient languages of Peru or
Mexico was there a word that could
be translated banana.
One writer who strongly doubts
that the banana is American has gone
so far as to say that if it is finally
proved lo have been in the western
hemisphere before the coming of the
Spaniards he would believe it to have
been brought across the Pacific from
Siam or some other spot in south-
eastern Asia, partly because so strong
an Asiatic influence is evident in the
architecture and customs, and even in
the physical appearance of the na-
tive peoples of South and Central
America. :
(©. 1928. Western Newspaper Union.)
There are 14,000 millionaires in the
United States and now we don’t be-
lieve we will join the crowd as it
isn’t very exclusive any more.