Elsie's Journey on Inland Waters

in a southerly direction till they had reached the Sand Hills between the prairie and the beach

nce, came suddenly dashing back, their leader shout

the Sand Hills. The Pottawatomies, both treacherous and cowardly, had ma

mber, a white-haired man of seventy, fell dead from his horse, the first victim of t

ed them with perfidy, and brandishing his tomahawk told them he would be the first to lead Americans to

them to the savage foe as dearly as possible. It was a short, desperate, bloody conflict. Lossing tells us that Captain W

ght. Seeing a young warrior, painted like a demon, climb into a wagon in which were twelve children, and scalp them all, he forgot his own danger, and burning to avenge the dreadf

e, lying close to his horse's neck, occasionally turned and fired upon them. He had got almost b

or a lingering and painful death by slow torture. Two Indian friends of his-Win-ne-meg and Wau-ban-see-tried to save him, but in vain; and he, knowin

ich so enraged him that he despatched Wells at once with a tomahawk, jumped u

ddering with horror. "How his nie

would not kill a squaw!' At that his arm fell, but he took the horse by the bridle and led it toward the camp with her still in the saddle. It was a fine animal, and the Indians had been firing at her in order to get possession of it, till she had received seven bullets in her person. Her captor had spared her for the moment, but as he drew near the camp, his covetousness so overcame his better i

, and as the three amounted to more value than Proctor's offered bounty for a scalp, he succeede

savage than those Indians! bribing them as he did to murder men, women

rtain that he d

s given for the destruction of so many wolves. In a footnote Lossing gives an extract from Niles' Weekly Register of April 3, 1813, in which it is stated that Mrs. Helm had arrived in Buffalo, and in the narrative she gave of her sufferings

ny it?" as

the wilderness from Detroit to Niagara frontier, in the dead of a Canadian winter. The writer also stated that Mrs. Heald had learned from the tribe with whom she was a pris

spect,-but it would be very wrong to judge of the whole nation by their conduct; for there were in the mother country many who

er; "but she was wounded, I presume, mother, since you ju

pted to take his scalping-knife, which hung in a sheath on his breast. Before the struggle was ended another Indian seized her, dragged her to the margin of the lake, plunged her in, and to her astonishment held

e beginning of the engagement her husband was badly wounded in the neck, and taking his sword she fought like an Amazon. She rode a fine, spirited horse, which the Indians coveted, and several of them attacked her with the butts of their guns,

ertake her?"

er by the neck and dragged her backward to the g

didn't kill her!"

gained a slight eminence on the prairie near a grove called the Oak Woods. The Indians gathered upon the Sand Hills and gave signs of a willingness to parley. Two-thirds of the whites had been killed or wounded; only 28 strong men remained to cope with the fury of nearl

this understanding captors and captives all started for the Indian camp near the fort. On arriving there another terrible scene ensued. The

man fiend Proctor!" exclaimed Walter. "I wonder ho

esale murderer," said Rosie; "a murderer not of m

n killed, besides Captain Wells, Surgeon Van Voorh

searched Mr. Kinzie's house for victims; but some friendly Indians arrived just in time to prevent the carrying out of their bloodthirsty intentions. These were led by a half-breed chief called Billy Caldwell. Black Partridge told him of the evident purpose of the Wabash Indians, who had blackened their faces and were sitting sullenly in Mr. Kinzie's parlor, no doubt intending presently to start out and engage in the savage work they had planned. Billy went

been, and so the threatened massacre did not take place. The prisoners were divide

happy consummation," sighed Evelyn. "Oh, I think we can n

the hands of savages and meet with a death so awful and sudden!

t terrible scene near the Sand Hills, spoke of the terror of Dr. Van Voorhees. He had been wounded badly, and his horse shot under him, when he asked her, 'Do you think they will take our lives?' and then spoke of

said, pointing to Ensign Ronan. 'Yes,' gasped the doctor

an who attempted to tomahawk her began, and directl

would think that, in such circumstances as theirs had been for months, ev

Christian lands, lost through procrastination than from any other cause," si

nt of silence, b

ur Saviour, and give yourself to him-soul and body, time, talents, influence-all that you have or ever shall have, to be his forever, trusting in him with all your heart, sure that he meant all that he said in speaking to Nicodemus-'God so loved the wo

and will study it faithfully, with earnest prayer to God for help to