CHAPTER IINTERESTING SPORT
“Thislooks like a good spot for fishing.”
“I don’t know but that you are right, Dave. Those trees back of us cut off most of the sunlight, and a hollow like that ought to be good for at least one fair-sized trout.”
“Do you think any of the other soldiers have been down to this part of the lake?”
“Hardly,” answered Henry Morris. “At least, there are no signs of them,” he went on, as he examined the ground with the care of an Indian trailer.
“If we are the first to try this vicinity we certainly ought to have good luck,” continued Dave Morris, as he dropped several of the traps he carried to the ground and began to prepare his fishing polefor use. “By the way, do you think there are any Indians in this vicinity?”
“Only those who are under command of Sir William Johnson. They sent all the French redskins about their business in short order.”
“How long do you suppose our troops will be kept around Fort Niagara?”
“I’m sure I don’t know, Dave. We may get marching orders at any time. Now that the fort is ours all Sir William has to do is to leave a small force in command and then sail down the lake and the St. Lawrence to Montreal and Quebec. We’ve got the French on the run and we ought to keep ’em on the run until they give up fighting altogether.”
“I wonder if General Wolfe has had a battle yet.”
“I shouldn’t be surprised. Reckon we’ll get word in a few days. But come, let us keep quiet, or we won’t get even a perch, much less a trout,” concluded Henry Morris.
David and Henry Morris were two young soldiers in the Colonial army, stationed at present at Fort Niagara, a stronghold located on the Niagara River, close to where that stream emptied into Lake Ontario.
The two youths were cousins, and when at home lived at Wills’ Creek, where the town of Cumberland,Va., stands to-day. The household consisted of Dave’s father, Mr. James Morris, who was a widower, and of Mr. Joseph Morris, his wife Lucy, and their three children: Rodney, the oldest, who was something of a cripple; Henry, already mentioned, and little Nell, the family pet.
When James Morris’s wife died the man, who was a trapper and a trader, became very disconsolate, and leaving his son Dave in his brother’s charge, he wandered to the West and established a trading-post on the Kinotah, a river flowing into the Ohio. This was at the time when George Washington was a young surveyor; and in the first volume of this series, entitled “With Washington in the West,” I related many of the particulars of how Dave fell in with the future President of our country, helped him in his surveying, and later on, when war broke out between the English and the French, marched under Washington in Braddock’s disastrous campaign against Fort Duquesne, located where the city of Pittsburg now stands.
The defeat of General Braddock meant much to James Morris. He had spent both time and money in establishing his trading-post on the Kinotah, and though a rascally French trader named Jean Bevoir had done his utmost to cheat him out of his belongings, Mr. Morris had considered his property safeuntil the trading-post was taken and he was made a prisoner. Dave was also captured by the French, but father and son escaped by the aid of White Buffalo, a friendly Indian of the Delawares, and Sam Barringford, an old frontiersman and a warm personal friend of all the Morrises.
Both England and her American colonies were now thoroughly aroused to the importance of a strong attack on the French and their Indian allies; and in the second volume of the series, entitled “Marching on Niagara,” were given the particulars of another campaign against Fort Duquesne, which was captured and renamed Fort Pitt, and then of a long and hard campaign against Fort Niagara, in which both Dave and Henry took an active part, accompanied by the ever-faithful Sam Barringford.
The march against Fort Duquesne and Fort Niagara had come only after a bloodthirsty uprising by the Indians, which even to-day is well remembered by the people living in Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New York, whose forefathers suffered from the attack. Cabins were burned, cattle stolen, and men, women, and children killed or mutilated. In some instances children were carried off by the Indians, and among these was little Nell, the sunshine of the Morris household.
The shock to Mrs. Lucy Morris was severe, and for a long time she could not be comforted. From various sources it was learned that the child had been taken first to one place and then another by the Indians, and at last it was ascertained that Nell was in the hands of some Indians under the command of Jean Bevoir, who had moved to the vicinity of Niagara Falls, where he intended to keep the little girl until the Morrises paid dearly for her ransom.
As soon as the capture of the fort was accomplished, and while some of the soldiers were hunting for game for food, several wounded prisoners were brought in, and among them was Jean Bevoir, who had been shot through the leg. The rascally French trader was now thoroughly cowed, and when threatened by Henry confessed that little Nell was being held a prisoner in a cave near the Falls. A march was made in that direction, and after an exciting chase of some Indians the little girl was rescued.
At the fort the whole matter was laid before Sir William Johnson, the Indian Superintendent, who had charge of the red men aiding the English, but who was now, because of the sudden death of General Prideaux, in command of all the troops. By Johnson’s order Jean Bevoir was placed in the hospitalunder military guard, to stand trial when physically able to do so.
The two young soldiers were overjoyed over the rescue of little Nell and promised themselves that Jean Bevoir should suffer roundly for his misdeeds. As for the little maiden, she was anxious to get back to her home, and soon set off with old Sam Barringford, the frontiersman having promised her folks that, if she was once found, he would not let her out of his sight again until she was safe in her mother’s arms.
The days following the fall of Fort Niagara had been comparatively quiet ones for the two young soldiers. It had not yet been decided what should be done with the French prisoners, although it was certain a large part of them would be shipped to England. The women and children who had followed the French to the fort for protection were placed under the guidance of some Catholic priests and allowed to depart for Montreal and other settlements in Canada.
The time was July, 1759, and the region for miles around the Niagara River and Lake Ontario was an almost unbroken forest, dotted here and there by the remains of an Indian camp or a French or English trading-post. Game had suffered but slightly from the hunting tours of the red men, and while the soldiersfrom England took but little interest in such sport, the frontiersman in the ranks seized the opportunity to supply themselves with fresh meat and also add a pelt or two to their scanty worldly store. Each day they would bring in one or more deer, and occasionally a buffalo, besides the skins of foxes, wild-cats, and other small animals, and innumerable birds, until the fort took on the look of a trading-post in spite of itself.
Dave and Henry were not slow to join in the hunting, and between them they one day brought in a deer which was the pride of the camp, weighing thirty-five pounds more than the next largest. This game Dave had wounded by a shot in the foreleg, and Henry had finished by a bullet through the left eye, for Henry, as my old readers already know, was a natural-born hunter and a skillful marksman as well.
Two days after bringing down the deer, and while the two had a half-day off-time, Dave proposed that they go fishing. His cousin was more than willing, and the pair lost no time in fitting up their poles and in obtaining bait, and thus equipped both set off for the lake front, tramped along until they came to a spot that looked particularly inviting, and then, as already described, prepared to try their luck.