CHAPTER IThe Dare Boys and the Indians

Three youths of perhaps twenty years of age were making their way through the forest. The locality was about fifty miles from Ninety-Six, in South Carolina, and Ninety-Six was so called because it was approximately that number of miles from Fort Price George. This was the nearest fort of any size.

The three youths were no others than Dick and Tom Dare, and their comrade, Ben Foster, who had been members of the patriot army of America for a considerable period—for it was now May of the year 1781.

These youths, who had done brave fighting, were also famous for having done much good work as scouts, messengers and spies, and they were now on a scouting and spying expedition, ordered by General Greene, their company having been sent down from Virginia into South Carolina to help General Greene. The objective point was Ninety-Six, but there had been lots of fighting to do with parties of British and Tories, and the advance southward had been slow. Hearing that the Cherokee Indians were on the warpath, having been incited thereto by the British, and that they were committing a good many depredations and killing patriot settlers, were burning and pillaging, General Greene had sent the youths to learn the actual facts, for, if the Indians were committing as great a havoc as had been stated, he would push on down into that region as quickly as he could move his forces, and try to put a stop to their depredations.

So here the youths were, and they were moving slowly and cautiously; indeed a settler that they had met a few miles back had told them that the Cherokees were in this vicinity, and had advised the youths to be very careful or they would be interfered with.

They came to the top of a knoll, and pausing, looked ahead with keen and searching gaze. At first they saw nothing noteworthy, but presently, Dick uttered a low exclamation indicating interest and indicating with his extended arm, said: “I believe I saw an Indian over there!”

“Where?” asked Tom, eagerly.

Dick pointed in the direction in which he thought he had seen the Indian, and the three youths all gazed eagerly. For a few moments they did not make out any sign of a living being, but suddenly out from behind a tree about a hundred yards distant appeared a bronzed face. The head was covered with thick, straight hair, and topped, it was seen, with eagle feathers.

“There he is!” exclaimed Tom, excitedly, but in a low voice.

“Sh,” cautioned Dick. They stood perfectly still, and hoped that because of the fact that they were pretty well hidden behind the underbrush upon the top of the knoll, they would not be observed. They did not know how keen-eyed a Cherokee Indian was, however, for suddenly a loud, thrilling war-whoop escaped the lips of the redskin, and then from several different directions the whoop was answered.

“He’s calling his companions!” exclaimed Ben. “We are in danger of capture, Dick!”

“Yes, I guess we had better get away from here.” In a moment he added, “Follow me, boys.”

Then Dick turned and started swiftly down the slope, Tom and Ben keeping close at his heels, and from behind them came the wild, thrilling war-whoops of the redskins.

“They’re surely after us!” exclaimed Tom.

“Yes. We’ll have to make good time if we get away from them,” said Dick. “They may be spread out, I should judge so from their calls, and it may take them some time to get together.”

The patriot youths ran rapidly and glancing back over his shoulder, Dick saw that at least one of the redskins was coming after them as fast as he could travel. The brave patriot youth realized that they were going to have a much harder time shaking these Indians off their trail than they usually had with the redcoats. The British soldiers were rather clumsy and slow, but these redskins were lithe as panthers, and as speedy, almost, and could continue running for hours.

“Do your best, boys,” he told his companions. “For I believe that they are gaining on us.”

“Run as fast as you can, Dick,” panted Tom; “we’ll keep up with you.”

“We’ll try, at any rate,” said Ben.

On they dashed, and after them, whooping in a manner that would have filled the hearts of less brave youths with terror, came the Indians. Doubtless the red fiends thought they would easily surround the fugitives, and make escape impossible. Presently Dick and his party came to a deep gulch or ravine. The wall on their side was nearly perpendicular, and they could not descend it. Here was a predicament indeed. They paused, irresolute, and looked to the right and to the left, only to see that the wall of the gulch was as steep everywhere within sight. They could see for quite a distance too in either direction, as the point where they were standing rather projected out toward the other side.

The yelling of redskins determined the fact that they were within a few hundred yards and swiftly cutting down the distance. And, too, they were spreading out, fan-shape, with the evident intention of hemming the youths in and preventing them from going up or down the edge of the gulch. Of course they knew full well the contour of the land and thought they had their intended prey, as it were, in a trap.

“There doesn’t seem to be any escape for us, Dick,” said Ben.

“Gracious,” cried Tom. “Look at that black cloud to the north.” It had not attracted their attention before, but now they saw that a terrible storm was impending.

Dick looked eagerly around, and suddenly he pointed to a very tall, slender tree, of some growth he did not recognize, that stood close to the edge of the precipice. The rains had washed out the earth from about the roots and the tree was inclined at an angle well out over the ravine.

“Quick!” he cried. “Let’s climb that tree and swing over the precipice. It will bend and will let us down I think to within twelve or fifteen feet of the bottom of the gulch.”

“That’s an idea worth trying,” cried Tom, and he was first to tackle the task and was quickly followed by Dick and Ben.

The three occasionally assisting one another made rapid progress and Dick meantime further explained his project. Their united weight would bend down the long slender trunk and at his command all were to drop at once into the depth beneath. Where would they land? There was not time to think.

While the Indians were yet at some distance, the youths found that their weight was effectively bending down the tree into the ravine. The change was gradual at first, and then the more slender wood gave quicker response to the strain, so that finally it bent so low into the depths below that the boys instead of climbing up were sliding down toward the tree top. Before the Indians reached a point where they could observe the boys they had disappeared below the level of the ground which marked the margin of the declivity.

Down, farther and farther went the patriot youths, and as the redskins came upon the scene they saw their intended victims slipping out of their hands in a most peculiar manner. They gave expression to their chagrin in yells of rage, brandished their tomahawks, and threatened to discharge arrows, but did neither. It seemed evident, from this, that they wished to capture the youths alive. Doubtless they knew the three were newcomers in that region, and wished to find out why they were there. Possibly they were working in co-operation with the British and had been instructed to capture any strangers seen and bring them to the officer in command.

Anyhow, they did not discharge any arrows or throw any tomahawks, which probably saved the youths’ lives, for the Indians, being expert in the use of those weapons, could hardly have missed at so short a range.

Down lower and lower swung the three youths, and presently they came to a point beyond which Dick deemed it not prudent to test the strength of the wood. They were now within perhaps nine or ten feet of the bottom of the gulch. “When I count three, let go and drop, boys,” ordered Dick. “The fall won’t hurt us,” he added encouragingly.

One.

Two.

Three.

The boys let go at the same moment and down they dropped, striking on the rocks of the gulch-bottom with considerable force, and dropping to their hands and knees, but they were not injured, excepting that they were jarred somewhat.

Then the Indians repeated their wild yells, and two of them began climbing the same tree, it having sprung back to its original, more nearly perpendicular, position. It was evidently the intention of the redskins to duplicate the feat of the youths.

“Quick, let’s run down the gulch, till we come to a place where we can climb the wall,” ordered Dick.

“Look!” suddenly yelled Tom, pointing up the gulch in the direction they had before noticed the cloud denoting an impending storm.

Dick and Ben looked, and saw a wondrous sight, a wall of foaming water coming rushing down the gulch toward them at terrible speed.

“There has been a cloud-burst up the gulch!” exclaimed Dick in dismay. “We will be swept away in that torrent!”

There was no time to say much, let alone do anything, for the torrent was sweeping toward them with the speed of the wind, and as it advanced, it roared like thunder. The youths now saw that there were logs in the advancing waters, swirling and pounding, and grinding against one another.

The Indians that had started to climb the tree had slid back down to the earth, and all stood at the edge of the precipice, staring down upon the youths, whom they doubtless believed to be doomed.

And there was reason for their thinking thus, for there was terrible force in the volume of water sweeping irresistibly upon them.

CHAPTER IIPeaceful Valley

In a beautiful little valley of some three miles in length by perhaps a little less width, several farmers were at work. They were plowing up the ground and getting ready to plant a crop.

Over at one side was a little group of log houses, ten in number, these being the homes of the families living in Peaceful Valley. The settlers had built the houses near together, for protection against the Indians. And in the center of the settlement was a very strong log building, surrounded by a thick stockade wall, with a strong gate, and the building in question was intended as a sort of fort, to retreat to, in case of an overwhelming attack by Indians. In the building there was kept constantly a goodly supply of provisions, so that it would have been possible to stand quite a siege.

When we introduce the scene to the reader’s notice, the farmers were working steadily, and quietly, and while they were on the alert, as was their custom, they were not expecting trouble, for they had not heard of any Indians being in their immediate vicinity, though there had been depredations fifteen or twenty miles farther south.

But suddenly a party of Indians numbering thirty or forty put in an appearance and made an attack on the settlers, who seized their rifles—which they always took to the field with them—and firing at the redskins a few times, they ran to the settlement as fast as possible, the Indians following, yelling in a blood-thirsty manner.

The women and children at the houses had seen what was going on, and had hastened to the fort, carrying such of their household goods as they could manage handily, and they held the gate open for the men to enter. Then, when all were within, the gate was closed quickly, and fastened. The women and younger children entered the building, while the men climbed to a platform that was built along the stockade-wall, on the inside, and perhaps five feet from the top of the wall. From here they could fire over the top of the wall, at the redskins, and then drop down to avoid the arrows of the Indians.

The redskins, finding that to attempt to break down the gate, or to scale the wall would be to lose a number of their braves, turned their attention to the houses, and began helping themselves to the contents. When they had taken everything that they cared for, they set the houses on fire, and the settlers were forced to stand there and see their homes go up in flames.

“The fiends!” growled James Holden, the leader of the colony. “Why couldn’t they have let the houses stand? They got most of our goods. They might have been satisfied with that.”

“They’ll stay till after dark and try to get in here at us, likely,” said Henry Perkins. “I know these Cherokee Injuns. They are mean when they get their mad up, and these seem to be very much in earnest.”

“Yes,” said Holden. “We wounded several of them when they were chasing us into the settlement. This naturally aroused their anger.”

“It was bad enough to have to live in a neighborhood where there are a good many Tories, without having to be bothered with the Injuns too,” said another of the settlers.

“The redcoats have put them up to going on the war-path,” said Perkins. “It was a mean trick to do, to get them started.”

“You’re right,” agreed Holden, “but look at that terribly black cloud over to the north. There is going to be a storm and that right quick or I miss my guess.”

The Indians, having finished setting fire to all the houses, retired to a little distance, squatted down on the ground, and watched the structures burning.

Then, when the buildings had burned down, the redskins began dividing the plunder they had secured from the houses, and when this was finished, they advanced as close to the fort as they dared. Here they stopped and held a council, of some sort, evidently trying to decide upon some plan for getting into the fort and at the settlers.

They talked and gesticulated at a great rate, and were apparently not agreed, or at a loss to determine upon any further procedure.

“I don’t think there is much danger of their making an attack during daylight,” said Holden, when they had watched the redskins a while.

“No, but they’ll try to get into the stockade to-night, without any doubt,” said Perkins. “Unless,” he added “that storm drives them away. Somehow the Indians don’t seem to notice its coming at all.”

“They are lower down in the gulch and perhaps do not see about as well as we do up here,” said another.

The other men all thought the same, but while they did not expect an attack before nightfall, yet they did not relax their vigilance. They kept their eyes on the enemy.

“I wish that General Greene would come down this way, with his army,” said another of the settlers.

“Mebby he will come down here,” said another. “I heerd that he is up in North Caroliny.”

“There are going to be terrible times around in the neighborhood of Ninety-Six, pretty soon, I think,” said Holden. “And it would be a good thing if General Greene came here.”

“He’d put a stop to the Injuns’ doin’s, mighty quick,” said another.

The others agreed that General Greene’s army would be able to put a stop to the depredations of the Indians, and then make it exceedingly hot as well for the redcoats in Ninety-Six and vicinity.

Then they ceased talking for a few minutes, while they watched the redskins, who had taken seats on the ground, with their faces toward the fort. They were about three hundred yards distant, and behind them, at about the same distance, was rough, broken country, with a deep gulch running through it, the mouth of the gulch being almost opposite the Indians’ backs.

Suddenly, one of the settlers, who happened to glance toward the mouth of the gulch, exclaimed, excitedly: “Look yonder! Look at the mouth of the gulch!”

The others turned their eyes in that direction, and saw a sight that made them all give vent to exclamations of astonishment. They saw, indeed, an avalanche of water at least ten feet in height coming sweeping down the gulch, foaming and, as it neared the end of the gulch, roaring at a great rate.

The Indians heard the sound, and leaped to their feet and turned, and when they saw the wall of water rushing toward the mouth of the gulch, they gave utterance to wild yells and started to run, to get out of the path of the flood.

They could not succeed, however, for the torrent came pouring out of the mouth of the gulch and dashing on across the level, spreading as it came, and before they could get out of reach, the water was upon them, and had them in its swirling embrace.

Some of them were struck by the logs and knocked senseless, and two or three were drowned. Others were swept onward and landed against the stockade-wall around the fort, while others still were carried past and went on across the valley, with the waters.

The settlers and the women and children, had watched this strange happening with wondering eyes, and with a kind of pleasure, too, for it had put an end to a problem that had been bothering them, had put the Indians to utter rout, at least for the time being.

“There must have been a cloud-burst up the gulch,” said one of the men.

“Yes, that was what happened,” said Holden. “Well, it was a good thing for us, for it has put the redskins to flight.”

“It has put some of them to death,” said Perkins. “I see three bodies, yonder.”

“They were hit by the logs, and then drowned afterwards,” said another.

“Yas. Well, it saved us the trouble of shooting them.”

“So it did,” said Holden.

“But, our houses are burned down!” murmured one of the women. “They have burned our homes, and the flood has spoiled the ground that had been fixed for planting.”

“Oh, well, we can do the work over again,” said Perkins. “And we can build new houses.”

“Yes, that’s so,” said Holden. “I’m mighty glad the flood happened along and drowned a few of the redskins and scared the others away.”

By the middle of the afternoon the ground was dry again, the sun having come out and shone brightly, and the settlers went out and buried the three dead Indians. Then they returned to the fort, and when nightfall came, they placed two men on guard, for they thought it possible that the Indians might come back again.

CHAPTER IIIRiding the Flood

When the flood of foaming, seething water swept over Dick, Tom and Ben and engulfed them, they thought at first that their time had come; but Dick shouted; “Grab hold of a log and stick to it if possible.” Each managed so to do and by holding to the logs tightly, they were born along with the rushing flood. They swallowed a good deal of water but escaped being drowned. As the boys disappeared beneath the onrush of the torrent, the Indians standing on the edge of the precipice, gazed down with a look of awe on their bronzed faces.

Onward down the gulch the boys were carried, however, with great speed, and when they had gone what seemed like two or three miles from the point where they had been overtaken by the flood, they came to a point where the gulch split, becoming two gulches, one going off at right angles while the other turned slightly to the left. As the one leading to the right was wider, had lower banks and the water was not swirling at such a terrible rate, the three youths were able to guide the logs into the gulch on that side, and were soon being borne onward at a more moderate pace.

Onward they were swept, until finally they suddenly shot out from the mouth of the gulch and found themselves in a good-sized river.

They let go now their holds on the logs, swam to the shore and clambered out upon the bank, which was low and sloping, and dropping down on the sand, they lay there, panting and resting.

“Well, didn’t that beat any experience that we have ever had since we joined the patriot army?” cried Tom, presently, when he had become rested and was breathing normally again.

“It wasn’t a very pleasing experience,” said Dick.

“I should say not,” remarked Ben.

“That torrent certainly carried us away from the vicinity of the redskins very quickly,” said Tom.

“Yes, it did that much good, anyhow,” agreed Dick.