On the Trail of Pontiac or, The Pioneer Boys of the Ohio

eading from the eastward to Fort Pitt, at the junction of the Allegheny and Monon

, as the stronghold was then named by the French. This ran through Great Meadows and then northward to Fort Pitt.

by the English troops and Royal Americans. This started from Fort Bedford, about thirty miles north of Fort Cumberland, and ran over the Allegheny Mountains,

but he was fairly well acquainted with the other, and at last decided

k's road," he said. "It may take a few days l

s?" asked his brother's wife timidly, "I do not wish Henry to ge

uried everywhere, Lucy. To be sure, there is no telling when it will be dug

in a radius of two and three miles came to see them off. Among the number was Paul Thompson, who sai

rom the Potomac River. Not a cloud ruffled the sky, a

rringford, as the two rode along side by side, "Don't you remember what a time we had gett

l ain't half as bad as it was then-Braddock's pioneers smoothed down the rou

in at the Indian v

it away last year, so I heard tell some time ago. But I reckon

stopped in the midst of a little clearing where there had once been a house, but this the Indians had bu

erved James Morris. "Muc

r own troubles g

der General Braddock," answered Dave. "Then the pioneer

ut in the old frontiersman grimly. "Braddock mea

here the tops of the trees were a hundred feet and more overhead, and the great twisted roots lay sprawling in all directions, covered partly with moss and decayed leav

came the pack-horses with their loads, looked after by Dave and Henry, and further to the rear were the Indians under White Buffalo. All told

they lay scattered in all directions on the side of a hill up which they were climbing. Sometimes a horse wou

eans!" cried Henr

a laugh. The beans were rolling in all directions, under the rocks and the horses' feet

ly. "Those beans will grow, and when you com

during the day it was doubly so at night. Occasionally some birds would break the stillness, or they would hear the croaking of frog

on horseback, as already described in "With Washington in the West," and th

with something like a shudder. "It was

the trail made a new turn, and now began the ascent of a long hill, up which the pack-horses moved with the pace of snails.

remarked Sam Barringford. "But they tell me it knock

s decided to keep on and did so until the middle of the afternoon, when, as the storm increased, the party halted beneath a large clump of trees and lost no time in getting out their shelters and putting them up. The Indians had a wigwam of skins and

s he crouched in the shelter beside Dave. "Makes me f

ed Dave. "Don't you remember the cold I

yself." Henry paused for a mome

tir up some game. I don't know wh

doing. He is the best white h

ore that time. They were thrilling tales and the youths listened to them with deep interest. Both Dave and Henry had been through a great deal themselves, so they knew that the stories, though wild and wonderful,

arisen to stretch his limbs, when a sudden rus

tioned, and instinctive

I reckon," a

ame closer. Then, as Henry ran out of

alo! Lo

trees and among the bushes. He was alone and rushing along at his best speed. In a twinkl