The Oak Openings; or the Bee-Hunter

“Him – Mac-naw – got fort – got so’gers – got whole island. Know dat, for been dere.”

This was astounding news, indeed! The commanding officer of that ill-starred garrison could not himself have been more astonished, when he was unexpectedly summoned to surrender by an enemy who appeared to start out of the earth, than was le Bourdon, at hearing this intelligence. To western notions, Michilimackinac was another Gibraltar, although really a place of very little strength, and garrisoned by only one small company of regulars. Still, habit had given the fortress a sort of sanctity among the adventurers of that region; and its fall, even in the settled parts of the country, sounded like the loss of a province. It is now known that, anticipating the movements of the Americans, some three hundred whites, sustained by more than twice that number of Indians, including warriors from nearly every adjacent tribe, had surprised the post on the 17th of July, and compelled the subaltern in command, with some fifty odd men, to surrender. This rapid and highly military measure, on the part of the British, completely cut off the post of Chicago, at the head of Lake Michigan, leaving it isolated, on what was then a very remote wilderness. Chicago, Mackinac, and Detroit, were the three grand stations of the Americans on the upper lakes, and here were two of them virtually gone at a blow!

Chapter III

– Ho! who’s here?
If anything that’s civil, speak; if savage,
Take, or lend —

    Cymbeline

Not another syllable did le Bourdon utter to the Chippewa, or the Chippewa to him, in that sitting, touching the important event just communicated. Each carefully avoided manifesting any further interest in the subject, but the smoking continued for some time after the sun had set. As the shades of evening began to gather, the Pottawattamie arose, shook the ashes from his pipe, gave a grunt, and uttered a word or two, by way of announcing his disposition to retire. On this hint, Ben went into the cabin, spread his skins, and intimated to his guests that their beds were ready for them. Few compliments pass among border men on such occasions, and one after another dropped off, until all were stretched on the skins but the master of the place. He remained up two hours later, ruminating on the state of things; when, perceiving that the night was wearing on, he also found a nest, and sought his repose.

Nothing occurred to disturb the occupants of “Castle Meal,” as le Bourdon laughingly called his cabin, until the return of day. If there were any bears scenting around the place, as often occurred at night, their instinct must have apprised them that a large reinforcement was present, and caused them to defer their attack to a more favorable opportunity. The first afoot next morning was the bee-hunter himself, who arose and left his cabin just as the earliest streaks of day were appearing in the east. Although dwelling in a wilderness, the “openings” had not the character of ordinary forests. The air circulates freely beneath their oaks, the sun penetrates in a thousand places, and grass grows, wild but verdant. There was little of the dampness of the virgin woods; and the morning air, though cool, as is ever the case, even in midsummer, in regions still covered with trees, was balmy; and, at that particular spot, it came to the senses of le Bourdon loaded with the sweets of many a wide glade of his favorite white clover. Of course, he had placed his cabin near those spots where the insect he sought most abounded; and a fragrant site it proved to be, in favorable conditions of the atmosphere. Ben had a taste for all the natural advantages of his abode, and was standing in enjoyment of its placid beauties when some one touched his elbow. Turning, quick as thought, he perceived the Chippewa at his side. That young Indian had approached with the noiseless tread of his people, and was now anxious to hold a private communication with him.

“Pottawattamie got long ear – come fudder – ” said Pigeonswing; “go cook-house – t’ink we want breakfast.”

Ben did as desired; and the two were soon side by side at the spring, in the outlet of which they made their ablutions – the redskin being totally without paint. When this agreeable office was performed, each felt in better condition for a conference.

“Elkfoot got belt from Canada fadder,” commenced the Chippewa, with a sententious allusion to the British propensity to keep the savages in pay. “KNOW he got him KNOW he keep him.”

“And you, Pigeonswing – by your manner of talking I had set you down for a king’s Injin, too.”

“TALK so – no FEEL bit so. MY heart Yankee.”

“And have you not had a belt of wampum sent you, as well as the rest of them?”

“Dat true – got him – don’t keep him.”

“What! did you dare to send it back?”

“Ain’t fool, dough young. Keep him; no keep him. Keep him for Canada fadder; no keep him for Chippewa brave.”

“What have you then done with your belt?”

“Bury him where nobody find him dis war. No – Waubkenewh no hole in heart to let king in.”

Pigeonswing, as this young Indian was commonly called in his tribe, in consequence of the rapidity of his movement when employed as a runner, had a much more respectable name, and one that he had fairly earned in some of the forays of his people, but which the commonalty had just the same indisposition to use as the French have to call Marshal Soult the Duc de Dalmatie. The last may be the most honorable title, but it is not that by which he is the best known to his countrymen. Waubkenewh was an appellation, notwithstanding, of which the young Chippewa was justly proud; and he often asserted his right to use it, as sternly as the old hero of Toulouse asserted his right to his duchy, when the Austrians wished to style him “le Marechal DUC Soult.”

“And you are friendly to the Yankees, and an enemy to the red-coats?”

Waubkenewh grasped the hand of le Bourdon, and squeezed it firmly. Then he said, warily:

“Take care – Elkfoot friend of Blackbird; like to look at Canada belt. Got medal of king, too. Have Yankee scalp, bye’m by. Take care – must speak low, when Elkfoot near.”

“I begin to understand you, Chippewa; you wish me to believe that YOU are a friend to America, and that the Pottawatamie is not. If this be so, why have you held the speech that you did last night, and seemed to be on a war-path AGAINST my countrymen?”

“Dat good way, eh? Elkfoot den t’ink me HIS friend dat very good in war-time.”

“But is it true, or false, that Mackinaw is taken by the British?”

“Dat true too – gone, and warrior all prisoner. Plenty Winnebago, plenty Pottawatamie, plenty Ottowa, plenty redskin, dere.”

“And the Chippewas?”

“Some Ojebway, too” – answered Pigeonswing, after a reluctant pause. “Can’t all go on same path this war. Hatchets, somehow, got two handle – one strike Yankee; one strike King George.”

“But what is your business here, and where are you now going if you are friendly to the Americans? I make no secret of my feelings – I am for my own people, and I wish proof that you are a friend, and not an enemy.”

“Too many question, one time,” returned the Chippewa, a little distastefully. “No good have so long tongue. Ask one question, answer him – ask anoder, answer HIM, too.”

“Well, then, what is your business, here?”

“Go to Chicago, for gen’ral.”

“Do you mean that you bear a message from some American general to the commandant at Chicago?”

“Just so – dat my business. Guess him, right off; he, he, he!”

It is so seldom that an Indian laughs that the bee-hunter was startled.

“Where is the general who has sent you on this errand?” he demanded.

“He at Detroit – got whole army dere – warrior plenty as oak in opening.”

All this was news to the bee-hunter, and it caused him to muse a moment, ere he proceeded.

“What is the name of the American general who has sent you on this path?” he then demanded.

“Hell,” answered the Ojebway, quietly.

“Hell! You mean to give his Indian title, I suppose, to show that he will prove dangerous to the wicked. But how is he called in our own tongue?”

“Hell – dat he name – good name for so’ger, eh?”

“I believe I understand you, Chippewa – Hull is the name of the governor of the territory, and you must have mistaken the sound – ‘is it not so?”

“Hull – Hell – don’t know – just same – one good as t’other.”

“Yes, one will do as well as the other, if a body only understands you. So Governor Hull sent you here?”

“No gubbernor – general, tell you. Got big army – plenty warrior – eat Breesh up!”

“Now, Chippewa, answer me one thing to my likin’, or I shall set you down as a man with a forked tongue, though you do call yourself a friend of the Yankees. If you have been sent from Detroit to Chicago, why are you so far north as this? Why are you here, on the banks of the Kalamazoo, when your path ought to lead you more toward the St. Joseph’s?”

“Been to Mackinaw. Gen’ral says, first go to Mackinaw and see wid own eye how garrison do – den go to Chicago, and tell warrior dere what happen, and how he best manage. Understan’ dat, Bourdon?”

“Aye, it all sounds well enough, I will acknowledge. You have been to Mackinaw to look about you, there, and having seen things with your own eyes, have started for Chicago to give your knowledge to the commandant at that place. Now, redskin, have you any proof of what you say?”