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Page 15
"You friend, then?" remarked the corporal, extending his
hand.
"Yes, me friend," he answered promptly, brightening up
and taking the proffered hand; "you give 'em boat?"
"Do you see any thing green in my eye?" asked the Virginian,
incapable, even under the circumstances, of repressing
the indulgence of his humor.
But the party questioned, although speaking a little
English, was not sufficiently initiated in its elegancies
to comprehend this; so, he merely answered with a "ugh!"
while the greater portion of the men laughed boisterously,
both at the wit of the corporal, and at the seeming
astonishment it excited.
This mirth by no means suited the humor of the Indian.
He felt that it was directed towards himself, and again
he stood fierce, and with a dilating frame before them.
Corporal Nixon at once became sensible of his error. To
affront one of the friendly chiefs would, he knew, not
only compromise the interests of the garrison, but incur
the severe displeasure of the commanding officer, who
had always enjoined the most scrupulous abstinence from
any thing offensive to them.
"I only meant to say," he added, as he again extended
his hand. "I can't give 'em boat. White chief" and he
pointed in the direction of the Fort, "no let me."
"Ugh!" exclaimed the Indian, his stern features again
brightening up with a last hope. "'Spose come with Injin?"
For a moment or two, the corporal hesitated whether or
not to put the man across, but when he reflected on the
singular manner of his advent, and other circumstances
connected with his appearance among them, his customary
prudence came to his aid, and while avoiding all ground
for offence by his mode of refusal, he gave him peremptorily
to understand that there was an order against his suffering
the boat to leave its present station.
Again the countenance of the Indian fell, even while his
quick eye rolled incessantly from one to the other of
the group. "You no give 'em boat--Injin swim," he at
length observed.
"Just as you please," answered corporal Nixon. "By and
bye, sogers go to the Fort--take Injin with 'em."
"Wah! Injin cross here," and as he spoke, he sprang again
to the bow of the boat, and at a single bound cleared
the intervening space to the very stern.
Several heavy splashes in the water.--a muttered curse
from the corporal--some confusion among his men, and the
savage was seen nearly half-way across the river, swimming
like an eel to the opposite shore.
"Damn the awkward brute!" exclaimed the former, angrily.
"How many muskets are there overboard, Jackson?"
"Only three--and two cartouch boxes."
"ONLY three indeed! I wish the fellow had been at old
Nick, instead of coming here to create all this confusion.
Is the water deep at the stern?"
"Nearly a fathom I reckon," was the reply.
"Then, my lads, you must look out for other fish to-day.
Jackson, can you see the muskets at the bottom?"
"Not a sign of them, corporal," answered the man, as
lying flat on the boat, he peered intently into the water.
"The bottom is covered with weeds, and I can just see
the tails of two large pikes wriggling among them. By
Gemini, I think if I had my rod here, I could take them
both!"
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