Betty Zane

Indians occupied the territory between Georgian Bay and the Muskoka Lakes in Ontario. Th

cisive defeat. They then abandoned their villages and sought other hunting grounds. They travelled south and settled in Ohio along the south an

rons built their lodges and their wigwams. The stately elk and graceful deer abou

as not heard. They were at peace with the neighboring tribes. Tarhe, the Huron chief, a

of that wild-turkey breed of heroes of which Boone, Kenton, the Zanes, and the Wetzels were

themselves with the Mingoes, Delawares and Shawnees and made a fierce war on the Virginian pioneers. Some powerfu

remembering the past bloody war and British punishment they slowly moved backward toward the setting sun and kept the peace. In 1774 a canoe filled with friendly Wyandots was attacked by white men below Yellow Creek and the Indians were killed. Later the same year a party of men under Colonel Cresop made an unprovoked and dastardly massacre of the family and relatives of Logan.

made ceaseless war upon them. He incited the wrath of the Hurons and the Delawares. He went on the warpath,

said: 'Logan is the friend of the white man.' I had even thought to have lived with you but for the injuries of one man, Colonel Cresop, who, last spring, in cold blood and unprovoked, murdered all the relatives of Logan, not even sparing my women and children. There runs not a drop of my blood in the veins of any living creatur

only to save their farms and their stock, now fought for revenge. That is why every ambitious pioneer who went out upon those borders carried his life in his

hide in the long grass like a snake, to shoot from coverts, to worm his way stealthily through the dense woods and to ambush the paleface's trail. Hor

battle of Braddock's fields, and of Custer's last charge. We lay the book down with a fervent expression of thankfulness that the day of the horrible redman is past. Because little has been written on the subject, no thoug

judged a bloodthirsty savage, an ignorant, thieving wretch, capable of not one virtue. He said the free picturesque life of the Indians would have appealed to any white man; that it had a wonderful charm, and that before the war with the whites the Indians were kind to their prisoners, and sought only to make Indians of them. He told tales of how easily white boys become Indianized, so attached to the wild life and freedom of the redmen that it was impossible to get the captives to return to civilized life. The boys had been permitted to grow wild with the Indian lads; to fish and sho

lameless life; that he was simple, honest and brave, that he had a regard for honor and a respect for a promise far exceeding that of most white men. Think of the beautiful poetry and legends left by these silent men: m

st look for him before he was driven west by the land-seeking pi

. This fur-trade engendered a strange class of men-bush-rangers they were called-whose work was to paddle the canoe along the lakes and streams and exchange their cheap rum for the va

had lost all semblance to the white man. They lived in their tepee with their Indian squaws and lolled on their blankets while the squaws cooked the

ainous rum for the rare pelts. In 1784 the French authorities, realizing that these vagrants were demoralizing the Indians, warned them to get off the soil. Finding this course ineffectual they arrested those t

s to get drunk and who was to keep sober. It was necessary to have some sober Indians in camp, otherwise the drunken braves would kill one another. The weapons would have to be concealed. When the Indians had finished one keg of rum they would buy

the dreaded "fire-water." He exclaimed against the whites for introducing liquor to the Indians and thus debasing them. At the same time Logan adm

e steadily increasing tide of land-stealing settlers rolling westward, and

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ppily into his old place in the wigwam, in

ing matches, in canoe races, in wrestling, and in the game of ball. The chiefs and the ol

s which required weight and endurance, he usually suffered defeat. In a foot race there was not a brave in the entire tribe who could keep even with him. But it was with the rifle t

here they hibernated. A favorite place for them was in hollow trees. When the Indians found a tree with the scratches of a bear on it and a hole large enough to admit the body of a bear, an Indian climbed up the tree and with a long pole tried to punch Bruin out of his den. Often this was a hazardous undertaking, for the bear would get angry on being disturbed in his winter sleep and would rush o

il within easy range and sometimes killed several buffalo or elk before the herd became alarmed. The meat was then jerked. This consisted in cutting it into thin strips and

t a foot from the ground and a small tube, usually made from a piece of alder, was inserted in the hole. Through this the sap was carried into a vessel which was placed under the tree. This sap was boiled down in kettles. If the Indians had no kettles they made the frost take the place of heat in preparin

arly November was the best season for this sport, and the Indians caught large numbers of fish. They placed a torch in the bow of a canoe and paddled noiselessl

gh the water. Isaac stood up and raised the spear, ready to strike. In another second Isaac had cast the iron, but in his eagerness he overbalanced himself and plun

he braves, arrayed in their gaudiest apparel, marched into the circle. They formed two lines a few paces apart. Each held in the right hand a dry gourd which contained pebbles. Advancing toward one another they sang the courting song, keeping time to the tune with the rattling of the pebbles.

ulness. But when the long, dreary winter days came with their ice-laden breezes, enforcing idleness on the Indians, he became restless. Sometimes

with the papooses. The Indian baby was strapped to a flat piece of wood and covered with a broad flap of buckskin. The squaws hung these primitive baby carriages up on the pole of a tepee, on a branch of

ar bonnet. Already he could stick tenaciously on the back of a racing mustang and with his little bow he could place arrow after arrow in the center of the target. Knowing Captain Jack would some day be a mighty ch

very old; no one knew how old; his face was seamed and scarred and wrinkled. Bent and shrunken was his form.

of that fatal and memorable July 2, 1755, when Gen. Braddock and his En

m the ravines, the trees, the long grass, poured a pitiless hail of bullets on the bewildered British soldiers, who, unaccustomed to this d

nawha. He told Gen. Washington how he had fought in the battle of Braddock's Fields; how he had shot and killed Gen. Braddock; how he had fired repeatedly at Washingto

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ery early age, adopted into the Huron tribe, and married to Tarhe. The only child of this union was Myeerah. She grew to be beautiful woman and was known in Detroit and the Canadian forts as Tarhe's white daughter. The old chief often visited the towns along the lake sh

child of his long lost daughter. Tarhe hurried away f

clung to her all her life. She was seven when the men came from Detroit to ransom the brothers, and she showed such grief when she learned that Isaac was to be r

on of giving him his freedom, it undoubtedly saved his life as wel

d tended with her own hands, and many poor wretches she had saved from the gauntlet and the stake. When her effort

and the Shawnee braves, who had failed to win Myeerah's love, had openly scorned her for her love for the pale face. The Wyandot warriors to a man worshipped her; they would have ma

game resembling the Canadian lacrosse, and from which, in fact, it had been adopted. Goals were placed at both ends of a level plain. Each

dreds of strong and supple braves could be seen running over the plain, darting this way and t

get control of the ball. In front of the band of yelling savages he would carry it down the field, and evadi

ated Isaac, used this opportunity for revenge. Red Fox, who was a swift runner, had vied with Isaac for the honors, but be

then and there. As it was he had a deep gash in his head. The Indians

ians. His entreaties had no effect on Myeerah, who was furious, and who said that if Red Fox, who had escaped, ever returned he would pay for his unprovoked assault with his life, even if she had to kill him herself. Isaac knew that Myeerah would keep her word. He dreaded every morning that the old squaw who p

ded him with anxious solicitude; when she bathed and bandaged his wound her every touch was a tender caress; she sat by him for hours; her low voice made soft melody as she sang the Huron love songs. The moments were sweet to Isaac when in the gathering tw

d again," s

Myeerah, you have named me rightly. The E

what life could be freer than a Huron's?

Or must I take again those awful chances of escape? I cannot always live here in this way. Some day I sh

" she asked, gazing straight into

is loved by a woman. I have tried to teach you many things; the language of my people, their ways and thoughts, but I have failed to civilize you. I cannot make you

the Eagle's words make Myeerah sad. She cannot tell what she feels. The pale face's words flo

hough Nature had been jealous in the interest of lovers, she had twisted and curled the roots into a curiously shaped bench just above the water, which was secluded enough to escape all eyes except those of the beaver and the muskrat. The bank above

, as she crept into Isaac's arms and laid her head on his breast. "I love you. I love you. What will become

rsuade you t

and lie here," cried Myeera

me to my home

, where Myeerah would be scorned, pointed at

ife. My sister and people will love you. Come, Myeerah save me

e loves his daughter and will not give her up. If we tried to get away the braves would overtake us and then eve

turning away in bitter disappointment. "If

cess who has the blood of great chiefs in her veins prove her love in any way that she has

me and friends, and yet with tenderness in his heart for the Indian maiden who would not free him;

es. Half a mile below he left the water and ran along the bank until he came to a large tree, a landmark he remembered, when he turned abruptly to the east and struck out through the dense woods. He travelled due east all that night and the next day without resting, and with nothing to eat except a small piece of jerked buffalo meat which he had taken the precaution to hide in his hunting shirt. He rested part of the se

en but a few herbs and berries in the last two days; his buckskin garments were torn

clouded over and no stars appeared. Tired out and hopeless he dragged his weary body into a dense laurel thicket end lay down to wait for dawn. The dismal hoot of an owl nearby,