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Page 6
Mr. Heywood and the Frenchman exchanged looks of surprise;
they could not account for the action of Ephraim Giles,
for although it was his office to cross the river daily
for the purpose he had named, it had never been at that
period of the day. How the Indians could suffer his
departure, if their intentions were really hostile, it
was moreover impossible for them to comprehend; and in
proportion as the hopes of the one were raised by this
circumstance, so were those of the other depressed.
Mr. Heywood began to think that the suspicions of the
Canadian were unfounded, and that their guests were,
after all, but a party of warriors on their way to the
Fort, either for purposes of traffic with the only merchant
residing in its vicinity, or of business with the officer
commanding. It was not likely, he reasoned, that men
coming with hostile designs, would have suffered first
the boy to be despatched on a mission which, obscurely
as he had worded his directions, must in some measure
have been understood by the chief; and, secondly, permitted
Ephraim Giles to leave the house in the manner just
seen--particularly when the suspicion entertained by him
as well as by Le Noir and himself, must have been apparent.
But the Canadian drew no such inference from these facts.
Although he could not speak the Winnebago language, he was
too conversant with the customs of the Indians, to perceive,
in what they permitted in this seeming confidence, anything
but guile. He felt assured they had allowed the boy to
depart on his errand SOLELY that they might have a greater
number of victims in their power. Nothing was more easy,
numerous as they were, than to despatch THEM, and then,
lying in ambush among the trees that skirted the banks, to
shoot down every one in the fishing boat before a landing
could be effected, and preparations made for defence; while,
in the indifference of their conduct in regard to the
departure of Ephraim Giles, he saw but a design to disarm
suspicion, and thus induce them to lay by their arms, the
reports of which would necessarily alarm the party expected,
and so far put them on their guard as to defeat their plans.
The very appearance of Giles, moreover, crossing the water,
if seen by the descending boat would, he thought they
imagined, be a means of lulling the party into security,
and thus rendering them a more easy prey.
While the master and the servant were thus indulging
their opposite reflections, without, however, making any
intercommunication of them, Ephraim Giles, who had now
thrust his knife and stick into the pocket of his short
skirt, shoved off the only canoe that was to be seen,
and stepping into it, and seizing the paddle, urged it
slowly, and without the slightest appearance of hurry,
to the opposite bank, where, within less than ten minutes,
he had again hauled it up. Then, as coolly ascending the
bank, he approached one of the haystacks, and drew from
it a few handfuls of fodder which he spread upon the
ground, continuing to do so, as the cattle assembled
around, until he had gained the outermost haystack
bordering immediately upon the wood. This reached, he
gave a loud yell, which was promptly answered by the
Indians, who had continued to watch his movements up to
the very moment of his disappearance; and darting along
a narrow path which skirted the wood, ran with all his
speed towards the Fort. His flight had not lasted five
minutes, when the reports of several guns, fired from
the direction he had just quitted, met his ear, and urged
him to even greater exertion, until at length, haggard
and breathless, he gained his destination, and made his
way to the commanding officer, to whom he briefly detailed
the startling occurrences he had witnessed.
CHAPTER II.
The Fort of Chicago, at that period, stood upon a portion
of the same ground occupied by its successor, and was,
in fact, a very epitome of a fortress. On the western
side, two block-houses constituted its chief defence,
while on the north, a subterranean passage led from the
parade-ground to the river, near the banks of which it
had been erected. The uses of this sally port were
two-fold--firstly, to afford the garrison a supply of
water in the event of a siege--secondly, to facilitate
escape, if necessary. The country around, now the seat
of fruitfulness and industry, was at that time a wilderness,
tenanted only by the savage, and by the few daring and
adventurous whites who had devoted their lives to purposes
of traffic, yet whose numbers was so small as to induce
them, with a view to their safety, to establish themselves
as near the Fort as possible. Roads, there were none,
and the half formed trail of the Indian furnished the
only means of communication between this distant port,
and the less thinly-settled portions of Michigan. Nor
were these journeys of frequent occurrence, but performed
at long intervals, by the enterprising and the robust
men--who feared not to encounter privations and
hardships--camping at night in the woods, or finding a
less desirable repose in the squalid wigwam of the
uncertain Indian.
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