Myths and Legends of Our Own Land, vol 5 | Page 5

a flying eagle that the French officer who saw it during the Revolution
augured from it a success for the united arms of the nations that used
the eagle as their symbol.
The Mohegans knew this wonder of natural masonry, for to this point
they were pursued by a hostile tribe, and on reaching the gulf found
themselves on the edge of a precipice that was too steep at that point to
descend. Behind them was the foe; before them, the chasm. At the
suggestion of one of their medicine-men they joined in a prayer to the
Great Spirit for deliverance, and when again they looked about them,
there stood the bridge. Their women were hurried over; then, like so
many Horatii, they formed across this dizzy highway and gave battle.
Encouraged by the knowledge that they had a safe retreat in case of
being overmastered, they fought with such heart that the enemy was
defeated, and the grateful Mohegans named the place the Bridge of
God.

THE SILENCE BROKEN
It was in 1734 that Joist Hite moved from Pennsylvania to Virginia,

with his wife and boys, and helped to make a settlement on the
Shenandoah twelve miles south of Woodstock. When picking berries at
a distance from the village, one morning, the boys were surprised by
Indians, who hurried with them into the wilderness before their friends
could be apprised. Aaron, the elder, was strong, and big of frame, with
coarse, black hair, and face tanned brown; but his brother was small
and fair, with blue eyes and yellow locks, and it was doubtless because
he was a type of the hated white race that the Indians spent their blows
and kicks on him and spared the sturdy one. Aaron was wild with rage
at the injuries put upon his gentle brother, but he was bound and
helpless, and all that he could do was to encourage him to bear a stout
heart and not to fall behind.
But Peter was too delicate to keep up, and there came a day when he
could go no farther. The red men consulted for a few moments, then all
of them stood apart but one, who fitted an arrow to his bow. The child's
eyes grew big with fear, and Aaron tore at his bonds, but uselessly, and
shouted that he would take the victim's place, but no one understood his
speech, and in another moment Peter lay dead on the earth, with an
arrow in his heart. Aaron gave one cry of hate and despair, and he, too,
sank unconscious. On coming to himself he found that he was in a hut
of boughs, attended by an old Indian, who told him in rude English that
he was recovering from an illness of several weeks' duration, and that it
was the purpose of his tribe to adopt him. When the lad tried to protest
he found to his amazement that he could not utter a sound, and he
learned from the Indian that the fever had taken away his tongue. In the
dulness and weakness of his state he submitted to be clothed in Indian
dress, smeared with a juice that browned his skin, and greeted by his
brother's slayers as one of themselves. When he looked into a pool he
found that he had, to all intents, become an Indian. In time he became
partly reconciled to this change, for he did not know and could not ask
where the white settlements lay; his appearance and his inability to
speak would prevent his recognition by his friends, the red men were
not unkind to him, and every boy likes a free and out-door life. They
taught him to shoot with bow and arrow, but they kept him back if a
white settlement was to be plundered.
Three years had elapsed, and Aaron, grown tall and strong, was a good
hunter who stood in favor with the tribe. They had roamed back to the

neighborhood of Woodstock, when, at a council, Aaron overheard a
plot to fall on the village where his parents lived. He begged, by signs,
to be allowed to go with them, and, believing that he could now be
trusted, they offered no objection. Stoic as he had grown to be, he could
not repress a tear as he saw his old home and thought of the peril that it
stood in. If only he could give an alarm! The Indians retired into the
forest to cook their food where the smoke could not be seen, while
Aaron lingered at the edge of the wood and prayed for opportunity. He
was not disappointed. Two girls came up through the perfumed dusk,
driving cows from the pasture, and as they drew near, Aaron,
pretending not to see them, crawled