At War with Pontiac | Page 6

his employer
fairly well provided with all varieties of game in its season. Thus he
was able to spend much of his time in roaming the forest, passing from

one Indian village to another, keeping himself posted on all subjects of
interest to these wilderness communities, and ever watching, with eagle
eye, over the safety of the Tawtry House inmates. He was a
simple-hearted fellow, of sterling honesty, and a keen intelligence, that
enabled him to absorb information on all subjects that came within his
range, as a sponge absorbs water. Although of slender build, his
muscles were of iron, his eyesight was that of a hawk, and as a
rifle-shot he had no superior among all the denizens of the forest, white
or red. During three years of mutual helpfulness, a strong friendship
had sprung up between this son of the forest and the soldier, whose
skilled valor on old-world battle-fields had won the approbation of a
king. Now, therefore, the latter awaited with impatience the coming of
the hunter, whose advice he deemed essential before deciding upon any
plan of action in the present crisis.
When Truman Flagg appeared, and reported his patient to be sleeping
soundly after having eaten a hearty supper, the major asked what he
knew concerning the young Ottawa, and was answered as follows:--
"As fur as I kin make out, major, Mahng, the fellow you laid out so
neatly awhile ago, is a Jibway, while Songa is an Ottaway, and son of
the head chief, or medicine man, of the Metai, a magic circle of great
influence among the lake tribes. Not long ago both Songa and Mahng
courted a young Jibway squaw, who was said to be the handsomest gal
of her tribe. They had some hot fights over her; but from the first she
favored Songa, and so, of course, the other fellow had no show. Finally,
Songa married her and carried her away to the Ottaway villages. On
this, Mahng swore to be revenged on both of 'em, and as the Jibways
and Ottaways is good friends, he come and jined the Senecas on
purpose to get a chance at Songa. Here, seeing as he belongs to the
totem of the wolf, which is strong among the Senecas, and as he isn't in
noways a coward nor lacking in good fighting sense, he soon made a
name for himself as a warrior, and could raise a party agin the
Ottaways any time he chose. Most of the fighting that's been going on
since you came here has been stirred up by Mahng, and ef the whites
gets drawed into it, it'll be his doings. With all his smartness he never
met up with Songa, or leastways never got the best of him, till this last

time, when, fur as I kin make out, they caught him and his squaw and
their young one travelling from one Ottaway village to another. They
say Songa made the prettiest fight ever was seen, killed half a dozen of
Mahnga party, and held 'em all off till his squaw had made good her
escape with the child. Then he give up, and they brought him in. They
waited till he got well of his hurts, and then they set out to kill him by
as mean and devilish a lot of tortures as ever I see."
"You don't mean to say," interrupted the other, "that you were one of
the spectators at a scene of torture, and did nothing to prevent it?"
"Sartain I do, major. It's part of my business to see such things. It's also
part of my business to keep the peace, so fur as I kin, betwixt Injuns
and whites, which it would have been broke very sudden ef I had
interfered with an Injun execution of an Injun captive. They was only
acting 'cording to their light, and I acted 'cording to mine."
"I suppose you are right," assented the major, "but I am glad I was not
in your place, and sorry that the savages should have had the
encouragement of your presence at one of their devilish orgies."
"They've had that many a time, major, when I couldn't help myself,"
replied the hunter, soberly. "They didn't get any encouraging from me
this day, though, for they didn't see me. I was too snugly hid for that.
But to make a short story, they tormented that poor chap in one way
and another until I thought he must be done for, and all the time he
never uttered a sound except to jeer at 'em, nor quivered an eyelash.
Once, when they saw he was nearly dead with thirst, they loosed his
hands and gave him a bowl of cool spring water; but as he lifted it to
his lips,