Читать книгу The Trail of Black Hawk онлайн

8 страница из 62

“That’s foolish, I think.”

“So do I,” agreed Joseph. “Black Hawk and his warriors may be right around here now as far as we know. They’ll start by making war on the settlers, too; you know they always do that. They blame the settlers for taking their land away from them.”

“How about Keokuk?” demanded Robert. “He is the head of the Sac tribe, while Black Hawk is only a smaller chief. What is Keokuk going to do?”

“He is already across the Mississippi, I understand. He evidently was willing to go, or at least he thought that would be the wisest thing to do. He is not a fighter like Black Hawk.”

“I should say not,” exclaimed Robert. “Old Black Hawk has been fighting nearly all his life, I guess.”

“Ever since he was fifteen years old, so Deerfoot told me this morning. He is about sixty-five now, so you see he has been on the warpath off and on for fifty years. He must be a great old warrior if all Deerfoot told me is true.”

“What did he tell you?”

“Well,” continued Joseph, “he said that when Black Hawk was only fifteen he started fighting and that before he was seventeen he led a war party against an Osage camp and brought back several scalps. When he was nineteen he led another fight against the Osages and killed six people with his own hands. A few years later in another battle he killed nine men single-handed. In the war of 1812 he sided with the British and was a terror along the border settlements. He’s a real old warrior, from all accounts.”