About The Future citizen. (Milledgeville, Ga.) 1914-???? | View Entire Issue (Jan. 16, 1915)
page 4 i By J JOHN H. HART THE FUTURE CITIZEN ('outwitted by his captive J hi Sunday Advocate 3 r . ■ -- --X U=rj ■I ■ ]E H L2SJ E stood and looked will) boyish pride :ti bis new rifle. He hung it up over the firej)'ace, under his | I \\ ' (-r’s heavy gun. Will liked his home i above the forks of| Time and again he had cut across his cheek, leaving a had scar—another way by which he the river heard his father tell of the last fittht the settlers had with the Indians on ly a few years ago. •‘Was I too young then, mother? Was I only in the' way? Couldn’t 1 help any?” he had asked time and again. It was thought by many that the struggle was over, Years had pass ed and the good fort, only a mile down stream, had rested in peace at the forks of the river. Will was twelve years old now and had a rifle of his own. Many a time he had wished he was just the age of Ben Allen and that he had had a hand in the fight at the fort. Will felt he was a man now, as. with rille on his shoulder, he follow ed alone the trails in the vicinity of his home. The alarm of ‘'In dians” some months before had not frightened him, and month by month he was gaining confidence in the fact that he was a young pioneer Early one fall as he was travel ing along an old deer trail, not tai from his home, he heard a slight sound behind him. and turning quickly, was terrified to see a tall, tine-looking Indian leap'from his hiding place behind a tree, tore Will could even cry out the Indian threw him to the ground. Poor Will saw at once that there in could be identified Poor Will’s heart sank' within him. He realized that most likely the Indians were about to attack the settlement. To be held a pris oner by the squaws and childten while his father and friends fought for their homes was to him a bitter thought. N o wonder, then, that the hot tears came thick and fast when Long Step placed the butt of his gun against his back and shoved him ahead on the trail, with 'lie snarly exclamation “Go on ; get 1” To run only meant to be cap tured again. L'o resist—there was a long knife in the Indian’s belt and irlso an uglv-looking hatchet. What would father think? What would mother say when he did not return ? Would they search for him? Would they, too, be captured or killed? Was the home on the river, where he had been raised, a thing of the past? Question after question sect lied through his brain. Will remembered reading of a boy who had been captured by the Indians and taken hundreds of miles away across the mountains, lie remembered that this hoy had grown to be a man before he man aged to make his way home again. Would it be so in his case? Not a quarter of a mile had they gone when Willie’s countenance changed. It had been the very picture of despair. Now it lighted Be- with hope. What hope could he possibly have? His eves brightened 11 i s head lifted a little. His shoul ders seemed to square a bit. Not far ahead, close to the old deer trail, lay two immense logs in such shape a* to form an acute at.gle When Will was close these logs he suddenly sprang from the trail and darted towasd them. “Hi, stupe!” shouted Long S ep Seeing that the lad sped on, he gave chase. He had all but caught him was no use in struggling, no us; calling for help, for there was none to hear, no one to come to the res cue. The Indian seemed pleased with his capture. He examined Will's rifle, smiled and then threw it <*ver his shoulder. Will knew at once it was Indian Lmg Step. His father had told him that Long Step was the chiet scout among the I when the hoy darted between these Indian-. *le had been the Indian I togs and slipped back to the end of m >st to be fe .red when they in.d L i,e angle. Here he turned to face tought the settlers years before. j his pursuer. It would seem as if Long Step was the tallest in his i Will had cornered himself. Alien s rifle ball bad ii r.mnp v/•>I•.ii*•>» tribe. Ben ‘Come here!” exclaimed the In dian fiercely. Will braced one knee against a knot, the other against the logs. Dii he intend to defy his captor? Long Step leaned hi? rifle aginst a tree and stroc'e farvvard. “Hi, come!” he exclaimed, reaching for Will. Will drew back as if to avoid his grasp. This angered the big scout, and. coining farther for ward, he grabbed savagely at Will’s arm. Suddenly the air was filled with loose dirt, pine needles, and chunks of moss. This phenomenon was explained as a huge bear trap sprang with the suddeness of light ning from the earth, where it had been carefully hidden bv Will’s father. The big trap fastened with the grip of a blacksmith’s vise just a- bove Long Step’s ankle, with a scream of pain and terror as he felt the great teeth strike him, Long Step sprang hack. Will, ex pecting this, spring forward. Will’s father never went to set his big bear trap without taking his boy along, knowing the danger if he did not calculate to the inch where the pan of the trap was. “Trapped!” cried Long Step, struggling fiercely. Just it that ' moment he saw the lad disappear 'around the end of the big log. Re- j venge was the chief element in Long Step’s nature. He saw at a ; glance that his rifle was out of his own reach. Snatching his hatchet- | from his belt, he hurled it with stunning force alter the escaping boy. Will darted around the low- hanging limbs of a young fir tree, just in time to avoid the blow. | As the lad ran he glanced back, almost expecting to sej Long Step 1 in hot pursuit. No Indian gave chase, ho we ver. Will had heard his father say that if ever a man | was caught in his big bear trap and j escaped, he would leave his foot be hind. J Long Step, Will well knew, was the agitator of his tribe. It was his wild harangues around many a micnight campfire that had fired the hearts of the young braves to revenge. Long Step had led them to victory. He could outrun, out- shoot, outfight—he was better on Fault is a thing anybody can find, oat some qtucKer than others on account of intimate familiarity
