The Shadow of the North A Story of Old New York and a Lost Campaign
CHAPTER I THE ONONDAGA Tayoga, of the Clan of the Bear, of the nation Onondaga, of the great League of the Hodenosaunee, advanced with utmost caution through a forest, so thick with undergrowth that it hid all objects twenty yards away. He was not armed with a rifle, but carried instead a heavy bow, while a quiver full of arrows hung over his shoulder. He wore less clothing than when he was in the white man's school at Albany, his arms and shoulders being bare, though not painted. The young Indian's aspect, too, had changed. The great struggle between English and French, drawing with it the whole North American wilderness, had begun and, although the fifty sachems still sought to hold the Six Nations neutral, many of their bravest warriors were already serving with the Americans and English, ranging the forest as scouts and guides and skirmishers, bringing to the campaign an unrivaled skill, and a faith sealed by the long alliance.
"You shall be our shepherd," she said, pleasantly, "and keep the sheep
out of the meadows and the cows from getting in to the corn. You know,
father," she continued, turning to the Squire, "it was only yesterday
you said you must get a boy to tend the sheep, and this little boy can
do it nicely."
"Very well," replied the Squire, "it shall be as you say, and if he is
attentive and watchful he will be able to save me a good bit of
trouble and so really earn his money."
Then he turned to the child and said,
"Come to me in the morning, my little man, and I will give you a
silver horn to blow, that you may call the sheep and the cows whenever
they go astray. What is your name?"
"Oh, never mind his name, papa!" broke in the Squire's daughter; "I
shall call him Little Boy Blue, since he is dressed in blue from head
to foot, and his dress but matches his eyes. And you must give him a
good wage, also, for surely no Squire before ever had a prettier
shepherd boy than this."
"Very good," said the Squire, cheerfully, as he pinched his daughter's
rosy cheek; "be watchful, Little Boy Blue, and you shall be well
paid."
CHAPTER I THE ONONDAGA Tayoga, of the Clan of the Bear, of the nation Onondaga, of the great League of the Hodenosaunee, advanced with utmost caution through a forest, so thick with undergrowth that it hid all objects twenty yards away. He was not armed with a rifle, but carried instead a heavy bow, while a quiver full of arrows hung over his shoulder. He wore less clothing than when he was in the white man's school at Albany, his arms and shoulders being bare, though not painted. The young Indian's aspect, too, had changed. The great struggle between English and French, drawing with it the whole North American wilderness, had begun and, although the fifty sachems still sought to hold the Six Nations neutral, many of their bravest warriors were already serving with the Americans and English, ranging the forest as scouts and guides and skirmishers, bringing to the campaign an unrivaled skill, and a faith sealed by the long alliance.