USA > Oregon > The Oregon native son, Vol. I > Part 64
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While Williams believed "Scar-Face," as he afterwards called him, was laying a trap for him, he also believed that there was gold to be found on Sixes river and had for some time been thinking of go- ing there to prospect. Indian or no In1- dian, treachery or not, he resolved, if he could find a companion to take the chan- ces with him, to go and see. There was one man whom he preferred above all others for such a journey. Jake Hedden. Tohim he went and told what he wanted. "I guess I'm the man you'r lookin' fur. I'm just dyin' fur a little out-door air. These hills are too short fur me. I can't git a good breath among 'em. I want to git whar mountains has got some size to 'em. If we don't find any wald maybe we'll get a shot at a Digger
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Photo by Moore. EUGENE D. WHITE,
Photo by Aune. CAPT. HENRY. L. HOYT. .A Pioneer of 1550.
Photo by Hyland. E. V. HOOVER. M.D.,
Photo by Aune. CAPT. GEO. W. HOYT. A Pioneer of 1552.
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A TEST OF COURAGE ..
I've been nearly dead for an Injun fight ever since the sneakin' devils killed brither Jim. wouldn't felt so cussed mean about it if they had give Jim a show, but they never showed thar beads until he passed along the trail. and then shot him in the back; filled him full of arrers. We was out huntin' an' he was only a little way from camp. I heard him whistlin' jist before he was shot. Poor Jim! He wus the kindest-hearted boy that ever lived. He was too good fur an Injin fighter. he was always whist- lin'. He called me when they shot him. I never thought of Indians. I knowed Jim had left his gun in camp and thought he had jumped a grizzly. When I got thar Jim was layin' in the trail with six arrers through him and a dozen Diggers tryin' to scalp him: but he wus dyin' with his knife in his hand, and they were afraid to come near him. I brung Jim's gun and pistol and was right on om when they seed me. I didn't see the Injins neither. I was runnin' so fast. How they all cum to miss me. I can't tell. I expect my bein' so big scared 'em. But I didn't miss-runnin' or standin' I didn't miss a shot. They got behind trees, but they couldn't shoot without showin' tharselves. They kept runnin' and I followed up as long as I could see any. When I got back Jim was dead. He hadn't tried to pull any arrers out. but he scratched .Good-bye. Jake.' with the point of his knife in the trail before he died. Well. I couldn't do nothin'. You know I had killed ten Diggers, but all the Diggers that ever was born wouldn't have paid me for Jim. I packed him to camp. He wus a little iellow, and I am purtty strong, but that wus the heaviest load I over carried. I brought Jim out here with me and prom- ised Ma to take care of him, and thought I was doin' it till he wus killed. I hev- en't writ home vet. I just can't tell 'em Jimi's dead. Yes, I can go with you down to the Sixes. The only thing that bothers me. is my wife. She don't like ilir me to go among the Injins, but I can fix her all right. She can stay with her Pap. and I've got lots of ammunition
about Injins: jist talk about prospecting for gold, and I don't think she will kick.'
After the matter had been talked over with Mrs. Hedden she did not object to her husband going prospecting and cheerfully made preparations for his - journey. The day they started she fol- lowed Captain Williams down to the spring, where he had gone for some water, and said:
"I want to talk about Jake. I want him to go because he don't want to stay poor when Pap is well-off. He wants me to have as much as I always did. Pap didn't want me to have him, you know. I don't think he had anything agin him but his bein' so big. Pap don't like anythink bigger than he is. But Jake beat him at last. I believe I'll tell You about it.
"He always said I shouldn't have Jake until one day. just before we got mar- ried one of the cows fell into the well. Pap was runnin' round huntin' ropes and poles to git her out. It was old Brin. and the children was all cryin'. Jist then Jake come up. He was comin' up to see me. He had on his biled shirt, and look- ed awful nice. He took old Brin by the horns and pulled her out. Pap never said a word agin him after that. But that ain't what I wanted to tell you. I want you to try to keep out of trouble with the Injins. You don't know Jake as well as I do. He's crazy to fight 'em ever since his brother was killed. He has been at me to go to Pap's and let him go down on the coast to kill Infins. If it wasn't for me and our boy, he would do nothin' but hunt Digers all his life. Now don't let Jake get into a fight if you can help it. If the Injins do come on you Jake will stay with you. He will never run. If you get hurt he will stay and fight for you as long as he lives. He will never back down for anything.
"Now. I want you to promise me to stand by Jake as I tell you he will stand by you. If he gets hurt. I want you to promise not to leave him. Say you will stick to him and I will feel better while
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Williams saw tears gathering in her eyes, and taking her hand, said:
"Mrs. Hedden, all you say of Jake is true, and I solemnly promise to stand by him. We will either come home togeth- er or stay in the mountains. If the Dig- gers get him, they will get me. But don't be uneasy; the Diggers fight mostly with bows and arrows and are careful about coming near men who car- ry rifles and Colt's revolvers."
"Good-bye. Mary," said Jake. after giving his wife a hearty kiss, "Pap will be down after you this evenin'. Take good care of yourself and the boy. I'm goin' to bring back some nuggets to play with when I git back."
Mounted on stout ponies. and leading a pack horse. the prospectors started for Sixes river. This is a short, rapid stream which takes its rise in the Coast moun- tains and empties into the ocean. six miles north of Port Orford. It runs through a wild jungle of mountain peaks, at whose feet it has dug chasmis as deep, dark and dreadful as any found on the coast. This wild region was known to be the stronghold of the In- dians and had never been explored by white men. Only such views were had as could be obtained from distant moun- tain tops. These daring hunters were going into a trap which they knew had been deliberately set for them. among hundreds of hostile Indians. Going, too, with the full belief that their skill in mountain craft, marksmanship and sup- erior arms would enable them to defeat anything they might meet. One of them had no motive of hostility towards the Indians, the other no more than might be engendered on the frontier at any time in the breast of one who had suffer- ed the loss which he had.
From the standpoint of higher civiliz- ation, surrounded by different circum- stances and conditions, it might appear that they were reckless: that for some cause they were weary of life, and, know- ing it to be worthless to them, sought to throw it away in some encounter. On the contrary. they were well-balanced, cheerful men, who had much to hope from the development of the country-in
which they had made their homes. They were in a land of plenty, and Hedden had a handsome wife and child. They were simply pioneers, performing an act v: courage and self-reliance. similar to, those performed by their ancestors ever since the landing of the Pilgrims i :. America. The genuine hardihood and true nobility of the American pionce !. the advance guard of our civilization. has never been fully understood and recognized, and will not be, for man; years to come. All heroism has its crit- ics. The critic has his day, but the hero survives him. The Anglo-Saxon use- the instruments of his progress roughly and they may suffer neglect. but in the fullness of time he will gather them a- precious relics in his early struggles. In pursuance of a great law of nature. cit - ilization invades the realm of the savage There is, there can be, no mingling The Christian can no more leap the chasm of a thousand years than can th savage. It is a war of extermination. Disciples of Fennimore Cooper and oth. er sentimentalists, who have shrunk from the dangers of this contest and who have never encountered a more formidab !: foe than one who has wielded a quill it? opposition to their mild emotions, mn31 deplore the fate of the savage and Cel - sure his treatment at the hands of the pioneer, but science, culture, religios those grand aggressors in their line, car :ot long refrain from giving honor : those who stood between them and des truction at the hands of the savage foe- The heroic pioneer will live in histor: down to the remotest changes of time while his traducer will be forgotten be fore the hero he denounced has reach the zenith of his fame.
The first day's journey was a sho .. one, and our prospectors camped with. out meeting any adventures. Tl stream beside their camp was full mountain trout and the speckled be : . ties were enjoyed with a keen relish youthful appetites. The second da travel was over mountains so rugs that even their hardy ponies were taxe to their fullest strength. As the sun wa going down and our hunters were book
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A TEST OF COURAGE.
ing about for a suitable place to camp, they came to the crossing of a small stream, in the banks of which was worn by game, deep cuts reaching down to the water on either side. Brush and overhanging boughs prevented their seeing the stream until they were both in the cut and Williams had reached the water. As they glanced across, there, in the shallow water, not twenty feet from them, stood an old grizzly and her two cubs. The surprise was mutual and the conflict inevitable. Neither party could safely retreat. Had Fennimore been in Williams' place the world would probably have never read some of his later stories. But Williams' gun went to his face like a flash and a bullet was planted square between the threatening eyes. It was a fatal shot and no more was needed. The cubs fell easy victims. It was so fortunate that Williams fired so quickly and with such accurate aim. Had his ball struck an inch from the center it would have glanced harmlessly from the monster's head and this story would have been cut short here.
Those who are unacquainted with the ferocious nature of the grizzly bear can for no idea of the danger the hunters were in. Like all other wild animals, the grizzly is afraid of man, and will generally shun an encounter with him unless surprised by a sudden meeting, or when the mother is with her young, in which case she never asks nor gives any quarter. The enormous size and strength of the grizzly render him, to those who know him, the most dreaded of all the wild beasts. The world-re- nowned African lion, whose terrible roar, the school-books tell us. shakes whole forests, does not compare with him, in either size or strength. Neither does he display the courage or vitality of the grizzly. A full-grown one weighs about two thousand pounds, and the skin on his neck and shoulders is an inch thick, and he has been known to pursue and kill a hunter after two rifle balls had pierced his heart. The age in which man delights to see wild beasts fight is pass- ed, but to correct classical stories, and for the purpose of taking the starch out
of some of the traditions of the old world. it would be well if an interconti- nental meeting were arranged between his majesty, the king of the jungles, and the lord of the Sieras. Any man, who ever saw a full-grown grizzly, or even where he had placed his foot in the mud, would cheerfully risk a purse on his mountain lordship. Had young Samp- son encountered a grizzly bear instead of a lion, Delila would have been spared the shame of the betrayal of her hus- band and the Philistines have escaped an humiliating defeat with an ignoble weapon.
Camp was made near where the griz- zlys fell. The old bear's wooly skin softened the hunters' couch, the cubs furnished excellent steaks and roasts, while the ponies found excellent grass on the creek flat. Hedden was an enor- mous eater. They had traveled from daybreak until dark without food and he did the young bears justice. Wil- liams used to laughingly declare Hed- don devoured one of the small bears be- fore he went to rest on the mother's skin.
Shortly after sunrise on the following morning, they started, after christening their camping place which, in memory of their encounter, was called Bear Flat. This name it retains to this day. On the fourth day from home they came to Sixes river and selected a favorable- looking place to prospect. On sinking the first hole they found gold sufficient to encourage them to prepare to thor- oughly examine the river bed and adja- cent gulches for diggings. The first thing to do was to secure their camp against attack from Indians. They se- lected a little mound from which emerg- ed a spring and then, with aid of loose rock, which was lying handy, they built a wall completely round it. leaving loop-holes at convenient places. With bark from cedar trees they made a good shelter from rain, and soon were quite comfortably camped. They concluded to build a small wing dam in the river in order to work the bedrock. They had been working at this dam about ten days when they discovered moccasin tracke
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in the river bottom near their camp. An investigation showed there had been about twenty Indians prowling around their little camp the night before. After this only one worked while the other stood guord. One morning. as they were leaving camp. the Indians, who had secreted themselves near by, gave them a shower of arrows. Luckily none of them took effect. With a bound our prospectors were within their little forti- fication preparing for defense. It was sometime before an Indian was seen. Occasionally an arrow would whiz over head, but in vain Hedden and Williams tried to get a shot at the skulking Dig- gers. Towards evening they grew bold- er, and sent their arrows showering about the fort. sometimes falling within the enclosure.
"Look out." said Williams, "them ar- rows are poisoned. Don't get hit by one."
The Diggers, finding the boys did not fire, and knowing there were but two of them, rose from their hiding places, and charged upon them. Now was their time, and rifle and pistol for the first time awoke the echoes among the moun- tain peaks which, rolling the startling sounds from one to another. proclaimed the doom of the savage. Not a shot missed its mark. Without daring to come over the wall. the Diggers turned and ran to cover, leaving eight or ten of their number where they fell.
The cowardly skunks can't stand fire." velled Hedden. "I've a notion to follow 'em.'
"Never!" said Williams. "It would be certain death. Besides we've got some business here. I saw one Digger squat behind our wall, he didn't run with the rest. He's got some grit in him and we must be careful how we handle him. You keep a lookout for the others and I will climb over and see what he is doing."
Williams got over the wall on the op- posite side from the Digger, and com- menced crawling around towards him, keeping his pistol ready for instant use. The Digger heard him coming and crawled around the other way. Hedelen
could get a glimpse of them as the. passed around.
"Must I come and help you?" he ast. ed.
"No, keep inside, but pass around In hind him, making a little noise so h will think I am still after him."
Jake did as he was told. The Digge: thinking he was still .pursued, crawl on. He never knew the deception pra. ticed upon him. Williams' pistol ende his career while he still thought his i. was behind him. Williams recognize him at once as the Indian who had com. to his cabin and invited lim to come t hunt for gold on Sixes river. To h: belt was fastened a small buckskin pur- in which were found the identical muy gets shown to Captain Williams.
"Here. Jake, take these to your boy you may not be able to find any your self."
About sundown great numbers of !! dians were seen gathering, but they hel" at a distance until it began to grow dark, when they built fires encircling tin fort about three hundred yards distan When Williams saw this he na. thoughtful for a while and then said:
"I'll tell you what. Jake, I don't lin the looks . of that. There are not le than two hundred Indians around t. As soon as it gets dark they will leave few around the fires for us to look a: the rest will crawl close to us, then the. will raise a whoop and pile right that wall. They intend to do it. Jako .. sure as you are born."
"If they do, we'll give 'em hell. : give my ranch to have a hundred of 'e in this pen."
"But." said Williams, "even if we k! ed every one of them, one of us wert be very likely to get a poisoned art .... Now I don't like to leave our camp ." fit and horses, and I don't like to ! but if we ever get out of this we've to start within the next half hour we can reach the river before the De gers come, we are all right."
"Jake's calin, blue eyes flashed :: "Do as you please," he said. "1 c down here to fight Injins, an' I . goin' to run, now I've found 'em."
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A TEST OF COURAGE.
Williams was silent a moment. then said, "Jake, your wife, with tears in her eyes, asked me to keep you from getting hurt. I promised to try to do it. I know if we do not leave here in half an hour you will never see her and your boy again. If you stay I will stay. I will never go back to tell her the Dig- gers got you."
Hedden's face had softened while Williams spoke of his wife and child. The fire faded from his eyes as he an- swered:
"All right, I'll go; we can cum back to finish our dam when the water gets low, and we'll bring enough men with us to clean out the whole Digger tribe. But I do hate to leave jist now, I swar."
In five minutes they silently left camp and started for the river. When nearly there they ran into an ambush. About twenty Diggers were scattered near the trail. A hand-to-hand fight lasted a moment: when, clubbing their guns, they beat the Indians down and reached the heavy belt of timber on the river bot- tom where the Indians would not dare follow them.
"I got an arrow, and if it is poisoned I had better get it out." said Williams. "There it is," and he threw it to the ground. "But it leaves an ugly-looking wound."
The arrow, with flint head an inch broad, had penetrated the right groin, to a depth of six inches, severing a large vein or artery, from which the blood was flawing rapidly. The position of the wound rendered it impossible for the blood to be stopped by a bandage. Moreover, the Indians, afraid to follow in the thick timber, could be heard shouting to one another as they ran along the open ground, intending to again surround the hunters and prevent them from going up the river. Their plans were thoroughly understood by Williams, who knew the only chance to escape lay in eluding the Indians and preventing them from surrounding them again. In his condition this was diffi- cult to do. The Diggers had taken their horses, and there was no hope of Training them
"Can you travel, Cap?" said Jake.
"O yes, I'm all right, but ought to try to stop this blood some way.'
"No, let it bleed, I'm afraid its pisen. As long as it bleeds its all right. You've got a purty bad shot, an' in a bad place, too; but keep up your grit and I'll stay with yer till the last dog's dead. I'm for gettin' back to the fort and then we'll make 'em pay for this."
"We can never get there, Jake. Be- sides, there is nothing left to eat by this time. They would starve us out and make us fight the whole band on open ground. No, we've got to run. It is our only show, Jake. We can't kill two hundred Indians. Besides, there if I'm poisened I ought to get where I con get some medicine for it."
"All right, Cap. Runnin' or fightin', I'm your man. Let's go."
They ran along the river bank, keep- ing in the timber as much as possible. After a while the Diggers appeared to have given up the chase, as they could no longer be heard. There was a trail leading up the river on the open ground above the timber, but they dared not fol- low it for fear of ambush. At daylight they had traveled about twenty miles without hearing anything of the Dig- gers. Williams had become very weak from loss of blood. When Jake was able to see his face he knew he would go but little further without rest. The logs and brush on the river bottom rendered their progress slow and laborious. They concluded to try the trail. About sun- rise, as they were resting a moment, a clatter was heard, and looking up they saw about a dozen Diggers on ponies following them. They came over a little hill in sight about a hundred yards dis- tant. There was a crack of a rifle and the foremost Digger fell from his horse. The rest turned and ran, the dead Dig- ger's horse following them.
"Did you shoot?" asked Jake.
"No, answered a voice just above a whisper. "I tried to, but could not raise my gun. I am very weak and can't walk much farther. Do you think the Dig- gers will come again?"
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"Not for a while yet. We must get in the timber again.
They left the trail and again sought the river bottom. It was with great dif- ficulty Williams walked along slowly for about a mile. when he sank to the ground in a dead faint. Jake ran to the river and brought some water in his hat with which he bathed his face and tem- ples for a few moments. Williams open- ed his eyes.
"I'm all right now, Jake. Sit down, I want to talk to you. I have been think- ing over what I am going to say all night. It won't take me long to say it. You see I can't walk, the blood is nearly out of my body. my wound has stopped bleeding and is very painful. I am cer- tain that arrow was poisoned. Now, Jake. I promised your wife to keep you from being killed by the Diggers, and I want to do it. I have walked all night in great pain to save you, for I knew an hour after I was shot I could never reach the settlements, and I don't believe a doctor could save my life if I was there now. There is no depending on me, you have a wife and child. The Diggers haven't left us; they will go around that hill to get ahead of us. The whole band will come on in an hour or two, we will be surrounded with no earthly chance of escape. You can do me no good, and- I've got to say it, Jake-we must part. I want to do it now. I want you to go while you can get away. You can come back and bury me. Now don't say a word. Jake. Help me down near the water and then go."
Just then a shout on the hill proved Williams was correct; that the Indians were still following them, and no doubt had discovered their retreat.
"Come, Jake. don't lose a minute, but go. I can get to the water myself. Go before they get around the hill."
During Williams' talk Jake had stood, his face the very picture of astonishment. That look gave place to one of heroic resolve and he answered:
"To all that talk. I say no! You don't know Jake Hedden or you wouldn't a sed a word of it. I'll never leave you while there's a breath in vo? If we din
I'll bury ye as decently as I ken before I go. I am not certain I'll go then. as long as theres any Diggers left. M. wife told me what you promised her. and now I say to you what you said to her 'we will come home or both stay in the mountains together.' If the Injin- ga you they'll git me. I could never look Mary in the face again if I went home ?.: tell her I left you to die in the mountains and took care of myself. We've got lot of powder and lead. We'll keep on the open ground whar the Diggers dasent come, and we'll go in together."
"You forget.' 'said Williams, "I can hardly stand on my feet, and couldn't walk half a mile to save my life! I tel! you my strength is entirely gone. If I had been walking to save my own life i would never have suffered what I did last night."
"I don't care if you ain't got strength. I've got it. I'm gittin' strong er every minute. I can carry you on my back and whip the Diggers, too. Cap it's no use sayin' any more; it don't do no good. It jist tires you to talk: ! ain't made of the kind of stuff to leave a dyin' man in the mountains. I'll pac' you home if I have to eat steaks out of them cussed Diggers to git strength to do it."
Williams noted the expression on Jake's massive features as he said this. and, divining something of the nobili :; of the man's soul, he burst into tea .. Jake took him on his back, holding h !! ": with one hand and carrying his gun 1 the other. He waded the river and st # : ed up an open ridge, avoiding brush .. timber which might conceal the Indiv: Many of them were in sight, but the dared not come within reach of Jak- . deadly rifle. They followed along: !! ' ing to get some advantage, but l ... . changed his course whenever the Indi .. ". got ahead. Williams fainted twice d . ing the day, but revived again upon ' - ing laid upon the damp ground. Hey : fered most excruciating pain and some ties appeared lifeless, but Hedden in' him upon his Herculean shoulders, with the tireless grip of an iron hand, ani strada through rapid stengte and 11116
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