The Love of an Indian Captive 1758

ch 2: The Last Time

Frenchman on horses came riding up but many of them were speaking French so I could not understand. 5 other Indians came walking out of the house with the rest of my family. Although Joeys muffles and cries were panicked his eyes glowed with warmness. Ma carried the baby and held little Davids hand. Pa was the last come out, he wouldn't dare look at me, he was probably ashamed of himself for not leaving earlier or listening to uncle Henrys words that night at supper.

We walkewd along side the horses through the hot and sticky weather. Through forests, over mountains, and down unknown trails we walked. We tried our hardest to keep up with the pace for if we slowed down they would whip us and one hit from a whip would leave you scarred for life. After hours of walking we finally settled down for the night. The Indians built a fire and warmed up some fresh game but none was offered to us. We fell asleep on the hard, cold earth with our bellies empty.

We woke up really early, the sun barely even had it's golden head peaked over the mountains. One of the Indians who could speak English spoke to us so we could understand what was going on.

"We are getting head start, we leave now we should get there by tomorrow morning" the Indian said, he spoke in a monotonous tone. He had no emotion in his words.

As we walked my feet started to hurt so much, the pain was slightly unbearable. I collapsed so many times I was bleeding from twigs and slices of the whip went up and down my right leg. After about 6 hours of walking we settled down at noon to eat. The Indians passed around corn pone, pieces of meat, and buttered biscuits. All food stolen from our house. We all scarfed down as much as we could but pa refused to eat. The twinkle in his eyes had gone, he had a look on his face that told me he knew something that we didn't but I didn't dare speak to him. After we ate we walked some more finally we came to a river with a canoe beached on the banks. The Indians signaled something to the French which apparently told them they could go. The Indian who spoke done English took 3 pairs of moccasins out of a tule rush basket. He handed one pair to Joey, another pair to little David, and the last pair to me. A look of horror spread across my face which the Indian mistook for confusion.

"Put them on" the Indian had said, the sound of his low voice filled my eats and made ne jump at once.

I did what I was told. While putting on the ugly Indian shoes I though to myself about what was going to happen. They were going to take ne to live with the Indians. Shall I ever see my family again? What will become of them? Once we were done putting on the moccasins the Indians motioned for us to follow them. I ran after them with tears rolling down my once rosy cheeks.

"But what about them?! But what about the rest of my family?!" I asked.

"They stay" the Indian answered.

I turned around once more uncle Henry, ma, pa, baby John, Laurie, aunt Casey, cousin George, they all say facing me except for pa.

"Sally! My precious little daughter" ma called back. "Don't forget how to speak English, don't forget our names, and what ever you do don't leave the Indians"

"I won't ma! I won't! I promise!" I yelled, my voice weak from crying.

Before I stepped into the canoe I looked back at pa, the twinkle in his eyes were back! There were so many things I wanted to say, so many things I thought I had more time to think about, yet I remained speechless.

"Don't matter what happens, if only your strong and have great courage" pa said, his voice soft.

Pa always said that to me when I felt like I wasn't strong enough to do things and it hurt to know that, that would be the last time I hears him say those words, the last time I saw the twinkle in his eyes, the last time I saw my family.