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C++ for Engineers and Scientists, Fourth Edition 8-1

Chapter 8
I/O Streams and Data Files

At a Glance

Instructor’s Manual Table of Contents

• Overview

• Objectives

• Teaching Tips

• Quick Quizzes

• Class Discussion Topics

• Additional Projects

• Additional Resources

• Key Terms
C++ for Engineers and Scientists, Fourth Edition 8-2

Lecture Notes

Overview
The data for the programs your students have used so far has been assigned internally in the
programs or entered by the user during program execution. As such, data used in these programs
is stored in the computer’s main memory and ceases to exist after the program using it has
finished executing. This type of data entry is fine for small amounts of data. However, your
students can imagine a company having to pay someone to type in the names and addresses of
hundreds or thousands of customers every month when bills are prepared and sent.

In this chapter your students will learn that storing large amounts of data outside a program on a
convenient storage medium is more sensible. They will discover that data stored together under a
common name on a storage medium other than the computer’s main memory is called a data file.
Typically, data files are stored on disks, USB drives, or CD/DVDs. Besides providing permanent
storage for data, data files can be shared between programs, so the data one program outputs can
be input in another program. In this chapter, your students learn how data files are created and
maintained in C++.

Objectives
In this chapter, students will learn about:
• I/O file stream objects and functions
• Reading and writing character-based files
• Random file access
• File streams as function arguments
• A case study about a pollen count file update
• The iostream class library
• Common programming errors

Teaching Tips
8.1 I/O File Stream Objects and Functions

1. Introduce the general concept that to store and retrieve data outside a C++ program two
things are required: a file and a file stream object.

Files

1. Introduce the concept of a file as a collection of data stored together under a common and
unique name on an external medium.
C++ for Engineers and Scientists, Fourth Edition 8-3

2. Review the characteristics of external filenames as they differ between operating systems
and over time.

Teaching Students may find the difference between character and binary file types
Tip confusing since in fact they are both comprised of sets of binary values.

3. Introduce the two basic file types: text or character-based files, and binary-based files.

File Stream Objects

1. Introduce the concept of a file stream, a one-way transmission path used to connect a
program to a file stored on a physical device.

2. Discuss the difference between input file streams and output file streams.

3. Review the important functions in the ifstream and ofstream objects, and the
related concepts of opening and closing a file.

4. Discuss in detail the program code provided.

Teaching Closing a file can be discussed in the larger context of resource management and
Tip ensuring that all resources requested from the operating system are returned.

5. Highlight the importance of closing a file.

File Stream Functions

1. Introduce the concept of the core file stream functions, including opening a file and
closing a file.

2. Review the file status functions.

3. Discuss the program code provided in detail.

Quick Quiz 1
1. What term describes a collection of data stored under a common name?
Answer: a file

2. True or False: The two basic types of files are character-based and binary-based files.
Answer: True
C++ for Engineers and Scientists, Fourth Edition 8-4

3. What type of stream provides a one-way transmission path to connect to information

stored on a physical device and grouped under a common name?
Answer: a file stream

4. True or False: Opening a file closes an iostream connection to a file.

Answer: False

8.2 Reading and Writing Character-Based Files

1. Introduce the concept of the symmetry between file input and keyboard input.

2. Review the program code provided in detail.

Reading from a Text File

1. Introduce the use of ifstream as a replacement for cin.

Students may find it helpful to understand the concept of a file as an abstraction

Teaching
used to provide a similar interface for accessing data in a very large number of
Tip
formats and stored on many different types of devices.

2. Discuss the provided program code in detail.

3. Make sure that students understand how to specify a file’s location on their computer:
path + filename.

Standard Device Files

1. Introduce the concept of a logical file as a stream that connects a program to a set of
logically related data.

2. Discuss the concept of a physical file as a stream that connects a program to a hardware
device.

3. Introduce the standard input and standard output files, cin and cout.

4. Highlight the set of devices that are automatically connected when the iostream
header is included in a program.
C++ for Engineers and Scientists, Fourth Edition 8-5

Quick Quiz 2
1. True or False: The actual storage of characters in a character-based file depends on the
character codes the computer uses.
Answer: True

2. What term describes a stream that connects a file of logically related data, such as a data
file, to a program?
Answer: logical file object

3. True or False: There is a big difference between reading data from the keyboard and
reading data from a character-based file.
Answer: False

8.3 Random File Access

1. Introduce the terminology related to file input and output including file access, file
organization, sequential access, and sequential organization.

2. Highlight the difference between random access and sequential file access, touching on
the file position marker functions.

3. Introduce the concept of a file offset as a character’s zero-based position from the start of
a file.

One source of errors in a program that makes use of random file access is to
Teaching
miscalculate file offsets as one-based values. Highlighting the zero-based nature
Tip
of an offset may be very helpful to your students.

4. Review the provided program code in detail.

Quick Quiz 3
1. True or False: The two types of file access are called sequential and arbitrary.
Answer: False

2. True or False: Using random file access functions, any character in the opened file can be
read without having to sequentially read all characters stored ahead of it.
Answer: True
C++ for Engineers and Scientists, Fourth Edition 8-6

3. True or False: The seek() and tell() family of functions mark positions in a random
access file.
Answer: True

4. True or False: The first character in a character-based file is at offset 1.

Answer: False

8.4 File Streams as Function Arguments

1. Introduce the concept of using a file stream as an argument, including the associated
limitation that it must be passed as a reference.

Teaching File stream arguments are very common in real-world programming, so

Tip highlighting this requirement for your students may help prevent a lot of errors.

2. Review the provided program code in detail.

Quick Quiz 4
1. True or False: File stream arguments must never be passed by reference.
Answer: False

8.5 A Case Study: Pollen Count File Update

1. Discuss the listed program code in detail.

8.6 A Closer Look: The iostream Class Library

1. Review the general functionality provided by the iostream class library, including
encapsulation of the details of reading a byte-stream.

2. You might point out that buffers are used extensively in I/O operations, and that they help
compensate for different data transmission rates.

File Stream Transfer Mechanism

1. Introduce the data transfer mechanism.

2. Introduce the concept of a device driver.

C++ for Engineers and Scientists, Fourth Edition 8-7

Your students may find it helpful to view the concept of a device driver in the
Teaching
context of the file as an abstraction permitting access to a large number of
Tip
devices and to data in a large number of formats.

Components of the iostream Class Library

1. Introduce the two primary base classes associated with the iostream: streambuf
and ios.

2. Highlight the set of classes that derive from the ios base class.

In-Memory Formatting

1. Introduce the concept of in-memory formatting using the strstream class.

Quick Quiz 5
1. True or False: The iostream class library consists of two primary base classes,
streambuf and ios.
Answer: True

2. Name the object type that is typically used to “assemble” a string from smaller pieces
until a complete line of characters is ready to be written.
Answer: strstream

8.7 Common Programming Errors

1. Discuss each of the listed errors.

Quick Quiz 6
1. True or False: Opening a file before attempting to access it is required.
Answer: True

2. True or False: The file’s external name can be used interchangeably with the stream
object name when programming to access the file.
Answer: False
C++ for Engineers and Scientists, Fourth Edition 8-8

3. When required to make existing data available to a program, which stream object
should be used?
Answer: iostream

Class Discussion Topics

1. Discuss the similarity in code between reading from a keyboard and reading from a file,
and why that similarity is useful in abstracting a program’s interactions with external
information sources.

2. Investigate scenarios where random access is the more appropriate mechanism for file
input.

3. Discuss the limitations of character-based files.

Additional Projects
1. Have the students write a small C++ program that uses sequential file access to retrieve
an arbitrary line in a text file with fixed length lines whose name and line number (base
1) is specified on the command line. Then have the students convert the program to use
random access to perform the same functions.

Additional Resources
1. Tutorial on iostream use:
www.devarticles.com/c/a/Cplusplus/Iostream-Library-and-Basic-IO-in-Cplusplus/

2. Sample problems people run into using iostream objects in C++:

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/Vsexpressvc/thread/b2e8e2d5-7258-
41b2-91d2-9d8c530cb874/

3. IOstream library discussion and reference:

www.cplusplus.com/reference/iostream/

Key Terms
 Binary-based files: Files that use the same codes as the C++ compiler uses to store data
 Character-based files: Files where the data is stored using a character code set such as
ASCII
 Closing a file: Closing a connection between stream objects
 Device driver: A section of operating system code that accesses a hardware device and
handles data transfer between the device and the computer’s memory
C++ for Engineers and Scientists, Fourth Edition 8-9

 External name: The unique name by which a file is known to the operating system
 File: A collection of data stored together under a common name
 File access: The process of retrieving data from a file
 File organization: The way in which data is stored in a file
 Logical file object: A stream that connects a file of logically related data to a program
 Offset: A character’s position in a file
 Opening a file: Connecting a stream object name to an external filename
 Output mode: The state of a file connected to an output file stream where the stream is
available for writing
 Physical file object: A stream that connects a hardware device to a program
 Random access: The type of file access in which any character in the opened file can be
read without having to sequentially read all characters stored ahead of it first
 Sequential access: The type of file access that involves reading characters one after
another from an open input file stream
 Sequential organization: Characters in a file are stored in a sequential manner
 Standard output file: The standard object, cout, that is usually automatically created
and available for data entry
 Text files: Files where the data is stored using a character code set such as ASCII
Random documents with unrelated
content Scribd suggests to you:
 The Project Gutenberg eBook of When
Wilderness was King: A Tale of the Illinois
Country
This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States
and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no
restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it
under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this
ebook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the
United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where
you are located before using this eBook.

Title: When Wilderness was King: A Tale of the Illinois Country

Author: Randall Parrish

Illustrator: Margaret West Kinney

Troy Kinney

Release date: May 27, 2019 [eBook #59617]

Language: English

Credits: Produced by Tom Cosmas compiled from images made

available
by The Internet Archive.

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WHEN

WILDERNESS WAS KING: A TALE OF THE ILLINOIS COUNTRY ***
WHEN WILDERNESS WAS KING
"'Toinette!' I whispered, 'I would call you by a dearer
name than that!'" [Page 386]
 WHEN
WILDERNESS
WAS KING
A Tale of the Illinois Country

By
RANDALL PARRISH
With six pictures in full color and other
decorations
by Troy and Margaret West Kinney

Third Edition

Chicago
A. C. McClurg & Co.
1904
 Copyright
By A. C. McClurg & Co.
1904

Published March 36, 1904

Second Edition, April 20, 1904
Third Edition, July 2, 1904
Entered at Stationers' Hall, London All Rights Reserved

University Press John Wilson and Son Cambridge. U. S. A.

 CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. A Message from the West 1
II. The Call of Duty 9
III. A New Acquaintance 19
IV. Captain Wells of Fort Wayne 33
V. Through the Heart of the Forest 41
VI. From: the Jaws of Death 54
VII. A Circle in the Sand 66
VIII. Two Men and a Maid 77
IX. In Sight of the Flag 86
X. A Lane of Peril 95
XI. Old Fort Dearborn 105
XII. The Heart of a Woman 119
XIII. A Wager of Fools 133
XIV. Darkness and Surprise 141
XV. An Adventure Underground 150
XVI. "France wins, Monsieur!" 161
XVII. A Contest of Wits 171
XVIII. Glimpses of Danger 182
XIX. A Conference and a Resolve 191
XX. In the Indian Camp 201
XXI. A Council of Chiefs 212
XXII. The Last Night at Dearborn 224
XXIII. The Death-Shadow of the Miamis 236
XXIV. The Day of Doom 248
XXV. In the Jaws of the Tiger 261
XXVI. The Field of the Dead 269
XXVII. A Ghostly Vision 278
XXVIII. An Angel in the Wilderness 292
XXIX. A Soldier of France 306
XXX. The Rescue at the Stake 314
XXXI. A Search, and its Reward 325
XXXII. The Pledge of a Wyandot 337
XXXIII. An Intervention of Fate 347
XXXIV. A Stumble in the Dark 358
XXXV. The Battle on the Shore 368
XXXVI. In the New Gray Dawn 378
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
"'Toinette!' I whispered, 'I would call you by a dearer
Frontispiece
name than that!'"
"The obsequious darkey was deliberately combing out Facing page
his long hair" 56
"There was a rustle of paper, and Heald read slowly:
192
'Evacuate the post if practicable'"
"She had reined her horse back against a wheel of the
268
halted wagon"
"'You shall not torture this man—he is a soldier of
313
France!'"
"'Don't, John! The savage has a gun hidden beneath
338
his robe'"

"I saw a dot upon the map, and a

housefly's filmy wing—
They said 'twas Dearborn's picket-
flag, when Wilderness was
King.
* * * *
*
I heard the block-house gates unbar,
the column's solemn tread,
I saw the Tree of a single leaf its
splendid foliage shed
To wave awhile that August morn
above the column's head;
I heard the moan of muffled drum,
the woman's wail of fife,
The Dead March played for
Dearborn's men just marching
out of life;
The swooping of the savage cloud
that burst upon the rank
And struck it with its thunderbolt in
forehead and in flank,
The spatter of the musket-shot, the
rifles' whistling rain,—
The sandhills drift round hope
forlorn that never marched
again."

—Benjamin F. Taylor.
When Wilderness Was King
 CHAPTER I
A MESSAGE FROM THE WEST
URELY it was no longer ago than yesterday. I
had left the scythe lying at the edge of the
long grass, and gone up through the rows of
nodding Indian corn to the house, seeking a
draught of cool water from the spring. It was
hot in the July sunshine; the thick forest on
every side intercepted the breeze, and I had
been at work for some hours. How pleasant
and inviting the little river looked in the shade of the great trees,
while, as I paused a moment bending over the high bank, I could
see a lazy pike nosing about among the twisted roots below.
My mother, her sleeves rolled high over her round white arms,
was in the dark interior of the milk-house as I passed, and spoke to
me laughingly; and I could perceive my father sitting in his great
splint-bottomed chair just within the front doorway, and I marked
how the slight current of air toyed with his long gray beard. The old
Bible lay wide open upon his knee; yet his eyes were resting upon
the dark green of the woods that skirted our clearing. I wondered,
as I quaffed the cool sweet water at the spring, if he was dreaming
again of those old days when he had been a man among men. How
distinct in each detail the memory of it remains! The blue sky held
but one fleecy white cloud in all its wide arch; it seemed as if the
curling film of smoke rising from our chimney had but gathered
there and hung suspended to render the azure more pronounced. A
robin peeked impudently at me from an oak limb, and a roguish gray
squirrel chattered along the low ridge-pole, with seeming willingness
to make friends, until Rover, suddenly spying me, sprang hastily
around the corner of the house to lick my hand, with glad barkings
and a frantic effort to wave the stub of his poor old tail. It was such
a homely, quiet scene, there in the heart of the backwoods, one I
had known unchanged so long, that I little dreamed it was soon to
witness the turning over of a page of destiny in my life, that almost
from that hour I was to sever every relation of the past, and be sent
forth to buffet with the rough world alone.
There were no roads, in those days, along that valley of the
upper Maumee,—merely faint bridle-paths, following ancient Indian
trails through dense woods or across narrow strips of prairie-land;
yet as I hung the gourd back on its wooden peg, and lifted my eyes
carelessly to the northward, I saw a horseman riding slowly toward
the house along the river bank. There were flying rumors of coming
Indian outbreaks along the fringe of border settlements; but my
young eyes were keen, and after the first quick thrill of suspicion I
knew the approaching stranger to be of white blood, although his
apparel was scarcely less uncivilized than that of the savage. Yet so
unusual were visitors, that I grasped a gun from its pegs in the
kitchen, and called warningly to my mother as I passed on to meet
the new-comer.
He was a very large and powerful man, with a matted black
beard and an extremely prominent nose. A long rifle was slung at his
back, and the heavy bay horse he bestrode bore unmistakable signs
of hard travelling. As he approached, Rover, spying him, sprang out
savagely; but I caught and held him with firm grip, for to strangers
he was ever a surly brute.
"Is this yere Major Wayland's place?" the man questioned, in a
deep, gruff voice, reining in his tired horse, and carelessly flinging
one booted foot across the animal's neck as he faced me.
"Yes," I responded with caution, for we were somewhat
suspicious of stray travellers in those days, and the man's features
were not pleasing. "The Major lives here, and I am his son."
 He looked at me intently, some curiosity apparent in his eyes, as
he deliberately drew a folded paper from his belt.
"No? Be ye the lad what downed Bud Eberly at the meetin' over
on the Cow-skin las' spring?" he questioned, with faintly aroused
interest.
I blushed like a school-girl, for this unexpected reference was not
wholly to my liking, though the man's intentions were evidently most
kind.
"He bullied me until I could take no more," I answered,
doubtfully; "yet I hurt him more seriously than I meant."
He laughed at the trace of apology in my words.
"Lord!" he ejaculated, "don't ever let that worry ye, boy. The hull
settlement is mighty glad 'twas done. Old Hawkins bin on the p'int o'
doin' it himself a dozen o' times. Told me so. Ye're quite a lad, ain't
ye? Weigh all o' hundred an' seventy, I'll bet; an' strong as an ox.
How old be ye, anyhow?"
"Twenty," I answered, not a little mollified by his manner. "You
must live near here, then?"
"Wal, no, but been sorter neighbor o' yourn fer a month er so
back; stoppin' up at Hawkins's shebang, at the ford, on the Military
Road, visitin'; but guess I never met up with none o' your folks
afore. My name's Burns, Ol' Tom Burns, late o' Connecticut. A sojer
from out West left this yere letter fer yer father at Hawkins's place
more nor a week ago. Said as how it was mighty important; but
blamed if this wasn't the fust chance he's hed to git it over yere
sence. I told him I'd fetch it, as it wasn't more nor a dozen miles er
so outer my way."
He held out a square paper packet; and while I turned it over
curiously in my hand,—the first letter I had ever seen,—he took
some loose tobacco from an outside pocket and proceeded leisurely
to fill his pipe.
 My mother rolled my father's chair forward into the open
doorway, and stood close behind him, as was her custom, one arm
resting lightly upon the quaintly carved chair-back.
"What is it, John?" she questioned gently. Instantly aroused by
her voice, I crossed quickly over and placed the packet in my
father's thin hands. He turned it over twice before he opened it,
looking at the odd seal, and reading the superscription carefully
aloud, as if fearful there might be some mistake:
"Major David Wayland,
Along the Upper Maumee.
Leave at Hawkins Ford
"Important. on Military Road."

I can see him yet as he read it, slowly feeling his way through
the rude, uneven writing, with my mother leaning over his shoulder
and helping him, her rosy cheeks and dark tresses making strange
contrast beside his pain-racked features and iron-gray hair.
"Read it aloud, Mary," he said at last. "I shall understand it better.
'Tis from Roger Matherson, of whom you have heard me speak."
My mother was a good scholar, and she read clearly, only
hesitating now and then over some ill-written or misspelled word.
At Fort Dearborn, near the head of the
Great Lake. Twelfth June, 1812.
My Dear Old Friend:
I have come to the end of life; they tell me it will be all over by the morrow, and
there remains but one thing that greatly troubles me—my little girl, my Elsa. You know
I have never much feared death, nor do I in this hour when I face it once more; for I
have ever tried to honor God and do my duty as both man and soldier. David, I can
scarcely write, for my mind wanders strangely, and my fingers will but barely grasp the
pen. 'Tis not the grip of the old sword-hand you knew so well, for I am already very
weak, and dying. But do you yet remember the day I drew you out of the rout at
Saratoga, and bore you away safely, though the Hessians shot me twice? God knows,
old friend, I never thought to remind you of the act,—'twas no more than any comrade
would have done,—yet I am here among strangers, and there is no one else living to
whom I may turn in my need. David, in memory of it, will you not give my little orphan
child a home? Your old comrade, upon his death-bed, begs this of you with his final
breath. She is all alone here, save for me, and there is no blood kin in all the world to
 whom I may appeal. I shall leave some property, but not much. As you love your own,
I pray you be merciful in this hour to my little girl.
Your old comrade,

Roger Matherson.

This had been endorsed by another and bolder hand:

Captain Roger Matherson, late of the Massachusetts Continental Line, died at this
fort, of fever, fourteenth June, 1812. His daughter is being cared for by the ladies of
the garrison.
Nathan Heald,
Capt. First Regt. Inf., Commanding.

The tears were clinging to my mother's long lashes as she

finished the reading; she was ever tender of heart and sympathetic
with sorrow. My father sat in silence, looking far off at the green
woods. Presently he took the paper again into his hands, folded it
carefully in the old creases, and placed it safely away between the
Bible leaves. I saw my mother's fingers steal along the arm of the
chair until they closed softly over his.
"The poor little lamb!" she said gently.
My father's old sword hung over the fireplace, and I saw his
glance wander toward it, as something seemed to rise choking in his
throat. He was always a man who felt deeply, yet said but little; and
we both knew he was thinking about the old days and the strong
ties of comradeship.
The stranger struck flint and steel to light his pipe; the act
instantly recalled my father to the demands of hospitality.
"Friend," he said, speaking firmly, "hitch to the stump yonder,
and come in. You have brought me sad news enough, yet are no
less welcome, and must break bread at our board. John," and he
turned toward me, "see to friend Burns's horse, and help your
mother to prepare the dinner."
 Out in the rude shed, which answered as a kitchen during
summer weather, I ventured to ask:
"Mother, do you suppose he will take the little girl?"
"I hope so, John," she answered, soberly; "but your father must
decide himself. He will not tell us until he has thought it all out
alone."
 CHAPTER II
THE CALL OF DUTY
T was upon my mind all through that long
afternoon, as I swung the scythe in the
meadow grass. I saw Burns ride away up the
river trail soon after I returned to work, and
wondered if he bore with him any message
from my father. It was like a romance to me, to
whom so few important things had ever
happened. In some way, the coming of this
letter out of the great unknown had lifted me above the narrow life
of the clearing. My world had always been so small, such a petty and
restricted circle, that this new interest coming within its horizon had
widened it wonderfully.
I had grown up on the border, isolated from what men term
civilization; and I could justly claim to know chiefly those secrets
which the frontier teaches its children. My only remembrance of a
different mode of life centred about the ragged streets of a small
New England village, where I had lived in earlier childhood. Ever
since, we had been in the depths of the backwoods; and after my
father's accident I became the one upon whom the heavier part of
the work fell. I had truly thrived upon it. In my hunting-trips, during
the dull seasons, I learned many a trick of the forest, and had
already borne rifle twice when the widely scattered settlements were
called to arms by Indian forays. There were no schools in that
country; indeed, our nearest neighbor was ten miles distant as the
crow flies. But my mother had taught me, with much love and
patience, from her old treasured school-books; and this, with other
lore from the few choice volumes my father clung to through his
wanderings, gave me much to ponder over. I still remember the
evenings when he read to us gravely out of his old Shakespeare,
dwelling tenderly upon passages he loved. And he instructed me in
other things,—in honor and manliness, in woodcraft, and many a
pretty thing at arms, until no lad in the settlements around could
outdo me in rough border sport. I loved to hear him, of a boisterous
winter night,—he spoke of such matters but seldom,—tell about his
army life, the men he had fought beside and loved, the daring deeds
born of his younger blood. In that way he had sometimes mentioned
this Roger Matherson; and it was like a blow to me now to hear of
his death. I wondered what the little girl would be like; and my heart
went out to her in her loneliness. Scarcely realizing it, I was lonely
also.
"Has he spoken yet?" I questioned anxiously of my mother, as I
came up to the open kitchen door when the evening chores were
done.
"No, John," she answered, "he has been sitting there silently
looking out at the woods ever since the man left. He is thinking,
dear, and we must not worry him."
The supper-table had been cleared away, and Seth, the hired
man, had crept up the creaking ladder to his bed under the eaves,
before my father spoke. We were all three together in the room, and
I had drawn his chair forward, as was my custom, where the candle-
light flickered upon his face. I knew by the look of calm resolve in
his gray eyes that a decision had been reached.
"Mary," he began gravely, "and you, John, we must talk together
of this new duty which has just come to us. I hardly know what to
decide, for we are so poor and I am now so helpless; yet I have
prayed earnestly for guidance, and can but think it must be God's
will that we care for this poor orphan child of my old friend."
My mother crossed the room to him, and bent down until her soft
cheek touched his lips.
 "I knew you would, David," she whispered, in the tender way she
had, her hand pressing back his short gray hair. "She shall ever be
unto us as our own little girl,—the one we lost come back to us
again."
My father bent his head wearily upon one hand, his eyes upon
the candle flame, his other hand patting her fingers.
"It must be all of ten years," he said slowly, "since last I had
word of Roger Matherson. He was in Canada then, yet has never
since been long out of my mind. He saved my life, not once alone,
as he would seem to remember, but three separate times in battle.
We were children together in the blue Berkshire hills, and during all
our younger manhood were more than brothers. His little one shall
henceforth be as my own child. God hath given her unto us, Mary, as
truly as if she had been born of our love. I knew that Roger had
married, yet heard nothing of the birth of the child or the loss of his
wife. However, from this hour the orphan is to be our own; and we
must now decide upon some safe means of bringing her here
without delay."
He paused. No one of us spoke. His glance slowly wandered from
the candle flame, until it settled gravely upon my face as I sat
resting on a rude bench fitted into the chimney corner. He looked so
intently at me that my mother seemed instantly to interpret his
thought.
"Oh, surely not that, David?" she exclaimed, pleadingly. "Not
John?"
"I know of no other fit messenger, little woman," he answered
soberly. "It has indeed troubled me far more than all the rest, to
decide on this; yet there is no one else whom I think equal to the
task. John is a good boy, mother, and has sufficient experience in
woodcraft to make the journey."
"But the savages!" she insisted. "'Tis said we are upon the verge
of a fresh outbreak, stirred up by this new war with England, that
may involve the settlements at any time. You know Burns told you
just now,—and he is an old scout, familiar with the West,—that
British agents were active along the whole border, and there was
great uneasiness among the Indian tribes."
"There is serious promise of danger, 'tis true," he admitted, a
flash of the old fire in his eyes. "Yet that is scarce likely to halt David
Wayland's son. Indeed, it is the greater reason why this helpless
orphan child should be early brought to our protection. Think of the
defenceless little girl exposed alone to such danger! Nor have we
means of judging, Mary, of the real seriousness of the situation to
the north and west. War between the nations may very likely arouse
the spirit of the savages, yet rumors of Indian outbreak are always
on the lips of the settlers. Burns himself was upon his return
westward, and did not seem greatly troubled lest he fail to get
through. He claimed to live at Chicagou Portage, wherever that may
be. I only know it is the extreme frontier."
My mother did not answer; and now I spoke, my cheeks aflame
with eagerness.
"Do you truly mean, sir, that I am to go in search of the little
girl?" I asked, barely trusting my own ears.
"Yes, John," my father replied gravely, motioning me to draw
closer to his chair. "This is a duty which has fallen to you as well as
to your mother and me. We can, indeed, but poorly spare you from
the work at this season; yet Seth will be able to look after the more
urgent needs of the farm while you are absent, while he would
prove quite useless on such a mission as this. Do not worry, Mary.
Friend Burns is well acquainted with all that western country, and he
tells me there is scarcely a week that parties of soldiers, or friendly
Indians, do not pass along the trail, and that by waiting at Hawkins's
place for a few days John will be sure to find some one with whom
he may companion on the long journey westward. He would himself
have accompanied him, but must first bear a message to friends at
Vincennes. It is now some weeks since Roger Matherson died, and
we shall prove unworthy of our trust if we delay longer in sending
for his daughter."
Though my mother was a western woman, patient and long
habituated to sacrifice and peril, still her eyes, fixed upon my face,
were filled with tears, and the color had deserted her cheeks.
"I know not why it should be so, David," she urged softly; "but in
my heart I greatly fear this trip for John. Yet you have ever found
me ready to yield wherever it seemed best, and I doubt not you are
right in your decision."
At any other time I should have gone to her with words of
comfort and good cheer; but now my ambition was so aroused by
this impending adventure as to permit me to think of nothing else.
"Is it so very far, father, to where I must go?" I questioned,
eagerly. "Where is this Fort Dearborn, and how am I to journey in
reaching there? 'Tis no garrison of which I have ever heard."
"Bring me the map your mother made of this country, and the
regions to the westward," he said. "I am not over clear in regard to
the matter myself, although friend Burns, who claims to know all
that country, gave me some brief description; but I found him most
chary of speech."
I got the map out of the great square cupboard in the corner,
and spread the paper flat upon the table, placing knives at each
corner to hold it open. I rolled his chair up before it, and the three of
us bent our heads over the map together, our faces glowing in the
candle flame. It was a copy made by a quill from a great
government map my mother had seen somewhere in her journeying
westward; and, though only a rude design, it was not badly done,
and was sufficiently accurate for our purpose. Much of it was still
blank; yet the main open trails had been traced with care, the
principal fords over the larger streams were marked, and the various
government posts and trading settlements distinctly located and
named. Searching for the head of the Great Lake, we were not long
in discovering the position of the fort called Dearborn, which
seemingly was posted upon the western shore, nearly opposite
another garrison point at the mouth of the St. Joseph river. We were
able to trace with clearness the military road that had been
constructed northward from Fort Wayne, our nearest government
post; but the map failed to exhibit evidence of any beaten track, or
used trail, leading westward and around the head of the lake. There
were numerous irregular lines which denoted unnamed streams, but
by far the larger portion of the territory extending to the west
beyond Fort Wayne had been simply designated as "forest land" and
"unexplored." "Friend Burns tells me there is a trail used by both
troops and savages, which he has traversed several times," my
father explained, as he lifted his eyes from the map; "but it is not
over plain, nor easily followed, as communication with the Fort is
mostly maintained by means of the waterways to the northward.
The overland journey, however, will prove speedier, besides being
less liable to disaster for one unaccustomed to boats. How soon can
John be ready, mother?"
Her voice trembled, and I felt the pressure of her hand upon my
sleeve.
"It will take all of the morrow, David, to prepare his clothing
properly," she replied, with the patient resignation of the frontier.
"There is much that will need seeing after."
"Then John will start the next dawn. You had best ride the brown
colt, my son; he is of good breed, and speedy. Seth shall accompany
you until you find suitable companionship at Hawkins's. He will bring
back word of how you started, and that knowledge will greatly
comfort your mother."
He paused, and held out his thin hands.
"You go upon this strange journey willingly, my son?"
"Yes, father."
 "You will be both kind and thoughtful with Roger Matherson's
little girl?"
"She shall be to me as my own sister."
I felt the confiding clasp of his fingers, and realized how much to
him would be a successful termination of my journey.
"Kiss your mother, John," he said, a trustful look coming into his
kindly eyes. "We must all be astir early on the morrow."
Beneath the rived shingles of my little room, under the sloping
roof, how I turned and tossed through those long night hours! What
visions, both asleep and awake, came to me, thronging fast upon my
heated brain, each more marvellous than its fellow, and all alike
pointing toward that strange country which I was now destined by
fate to travel! Vague tales of wonder and mystery had come floating
to me out of that unknown West, and now I was to behold it all with
my own eyes. But marvellous as were my dreams, the reality was to
be even more amazing than these pictures of boyish imagination.
Had I known the truth that night, I doubt greatly whether I should
have had the courage to face it.
At last the gray dawn came, stealing in at the only window, and
found me eager for the trial.
 CHAPTER III
A NEW ACQUAINTANCE
DREW rein upon the upper river bank, before
we finally plunged into the dark woods beyond,
and glanced back. I had to brush the gathering
tears from my eyes before I could see clearly;
and when I finally rode away, the picture of
that dear old home was fixed in my memory
forever. Our house stood near the centre of an
oak opening,—a little patch of native prairie-
land, with a narrow stream skirting it on one side, and a dense
fringe of forest all about. The small story-and-a-half cabin of hewn
logs, with its lean-to of rough hand-riven planks, fronted to the
southward; and the northern expanse of roof was green with moss.
My father sat in the open doorway, his uplifted hand shading his
eyes as he gazed after us; while my mother stood by his side, one
arm resting upon the back of his chair, the other extended, waving a
white cloth in farewell. Rover was without, where I had bidden him
remain, eagerly watching for some signal of relenting upon my part.
Beyond stood the rude out-buildings, silhouetted against the deep
green. It was a homely, simple scene,—yet till now it had been all
the world to me.
With a final wave of the hand, I moved forward, until the
intervening trees, like the falling of a curtain, hid it all from view.
Seth was astride the old mare, riding bareback, his white goat-like
beard hanging down his breast until it mingled with her mane, while
his long thin legs were drawn up in the awkward way he had. He
was a strange, silent, gloomy man, as austere as his native hills; and
we rode on with no exchange of speech. Indeed, my thoughts were
of a nature that I had no wish to share with another; so it was some
time before the depth of loneliness which oppressed my spirits
enabled me to feel even passing interest in the things at hand.
"I'd hate like thunder ter be a-goin' on your trip, Maester John,"
volunteered Seth at last, solemnly turning on the mare's broad back
to face me.
"And why?" I asked, wonderingly; for the man's rare gift of
silence had won him a certain reputation for deep, occult knowledge
which I could not wholly ignore. "It will bring me the sight of some
wonderful country, no doubt."
His shrewd gimlet eyes seemed fairly to pierce me, as he
deliberately helped himself to tobacco from a pouch at his waist.
"Wal, that may all be, Maester John; but I've heerd tell ther is
some most awful things goes on out yonder," and he swung his long
arm meaningly toward the west. "Animyles sich as don't prowl
raound yere, man-yeatin' snakes as big as thet tree, an' the blood-
thirstiest salvages as ever was. An' arter a while ther ain't no more
trees grows, ther Ian' is thet poor, by gosh! jist a plumb dead levil er'
short grass, an' no show ter hide ner nuthin'."
"Were you ever there, Seth?" I questioned with growing anxiety,
for I had heard some such vague rumors as these before.
"Me? Not by a dinged sight!" he replied, emphatically. "This yere
is a long way further west thin I keer 'bout bein'. Ol' Vermont is
plenty good 'nough fer this chicken, an' many's ther day I wish I was
back ther. But I hed a cousin onct who tuk ter sojerin' 'long with
Gineral Clarke, an' went 'cross them ther prairies ter git Vincennes
frum the British. Lor'! it must a' bin more ner thirty year ago! He tol'
me thet they jist hed ter wade up ter ther neck in water fer days an'
days. I ain't so durn fond o' water as all thet. An' he said as how
rattlesnakes was everywhere; an' ther Injuns was mos' twice es big
es they be yere."
 "But Clarke, and nearly all of his men, got back safely," I
protested.
"Oh, I guess some on 'em got back, 'cause they was an awful lot
in thet army, mighty nigh two thousand on 'em, Ephriam said; but, I
tell ye, they hed a most terrible tough time afore they did git hum. I
seed my cousin whin he kim back, an' he was jist a mere shadder;
though he was bigger ner you whin he went 'way."
"But Fort Dearborn is much farther to the north. Perhaps it will
be better up there."
"Wuss," he insisted, with a most mournful shake of the head, "a
dinged sight wuss. Ephriam said es how the further north ye wint,
the tougher it got. He saw an Injun from up near the big lake—a
Pottamottamie, or somethin' like thet—what was nine fut high, an'
he told him es how the rivers in his kintry was all full o' man-eatin'
critters like snakes, an' some on 'em hed a hundred legs ter crawl
with, an' cud travel a dinged sight faster ner a hoss. By gosh! but
you bet I don't want none on it. Your father must 'a' been plum
crazy fer ter sind ye way out ther all 'lone,—jist a green boy like you.
What ye a-goin' fer, enyhow?"
I explained to him the occasion and necessity for my trip, but he
shook his head dubiously, his long face so exceedingly mournful that
I could not remain unaffected by it.
"Wal," he said at length, carefully weighing his words, "maybe it's
all right 'nough, but I've got my doubts jist the same. I'll bet thet
ther gal is jist one o' them will-o'-the-wisps we hear on, an' you
never will find her. You'll jist wander 'round, huntin' an' huntin' her,
till ye git old, or them monsters git ye. An' I'll be blamed if ever I
heerd tell o' no sich fort as thet, nohow."
Seth was certainly proving a Job's comforter; and I was already
sufficiently troubled about the final outcome of my adventure. Hence
my only hope of retaining any measure of courage was to
discountenance further conversation, and we continued to jog along
in silence, although I caught him looking at me several times in a
manner that expressed volumes.
We camped that night in the dense heart of some oak woods,
beside a pleasant stream of clear, cool water. Late the following
evening, just as the sun was disappearing behind the trees, our
wearied horses emerged suddenly upon the bank of a broad river,
and we could discern the dim outlines of Hawkins's buildings amid
the deepening shadows of the opposite shore.
Upon one thing I was now fully determined. Seth should start
back with the first streak of the next dawn. His long face and dismal
croakings kept me constantly upon nettles, and I felt that I should
face the uncertain future with far stouter heart if he were out of my
sight. Firm in this resolve, I urged my horse to splash his reluctant
way through the shallows of the ford; and as our animals rose on
the steep bank of the western shore, we found ourselves at once in
the midst of a group of scattered buildings. It seemed quite a
settlement in that dim light, although the structures were all low and
built of logs. The largest and most centrally located of these was
evidently the homestead, as it had a rudely constructed porch in
front, and a thin cloud of smoke was drifting from its chimney. As I
drew nearer, I could perceive the reflection of a light streaming out
through the open doorway.
No one appeared in answer to our shouting,—not even a stray
dog; and, in despair of thus arousing the inhabitants, I flung my rein
to Seth, and, mounting the doorstep, peered within. As I did so, a
shiny, round, black face, with whitened eyes and huge red lips,
seemed to float directly toward me through the inner darkness. It
was so startling an apparition that I sprang back in such haste as
nearly to topple over backward from the steps. Heaven alone knows
what I fancied it might be; indeed, I had little enough time in which
to guess, for I had barely touched the ground,—my mind still filled
with memories of Seth's grotesque horrors,—when the whole figure
emerged into view, and I knew him instantly for a negro, though I
had never before seen one of his race. He was a dandified-looking
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