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Updated: June 5, 2025
The last-named animal had been found asleep by Barringford, and a single bullet had dispatched it almost before the beast awakened. "Thet's what I call dead-easy huntin'," Barringford remarked when the panther was found to be dead. "No fight nor nuthin'." "You won't often surprise the game like that," replied Henry. The two young pioneers had surveyed the panther with interest.
"The trail is poor," observed James Morris. "Much poorer than I expected. We shall have our own troubles getting through." "It is not as good as when Barringford and I marched under General Braddock," answered Dave. "Then the pioneer corps cut down every tree and bush that was in our way." "And lost so much time our army was defeated," put in the old frontiersman grimly.
"Some day there won't be anything left," put in Barringford. "Time was when buffalo were plentiful, but now you've got to go a long distance to spot 'em. How this elk got here is a mystery to me. I thought they stayed up near the lakes." "The heavy winter made him go a long distance for food, I reckon," answered Henry; and this was probably the correct explanation.
The sun, shining clearly, made the scene on all sides a dazzling one. Not a sound broke the stillness, birds and beasts being equally silent. It took over an hour to reach the ruins of the Chelingworth cabin one of the first erected in that territory and burnt four times before it was finally abandoned. As they passed the ruins Sam Barringford came to a halt. "Listen!" he said briefly.
Swinging it around, Barringford soon had a good blaze, and then he held the torch aloft, that they might look around them. Their first view of the interior of the cave was a disappointment. Close at hand were nothing but bare rocks, covered here and there with rude writing in the Indian language.
The journey was made in a dozen or more whaleboats, and Fort Niagara was reached on the first of October, about the time Dave, Henry, and Barringford received their release from the army and prepared to start for the Morris home hundreds of miles away.
"And if it is, it is the cave Pontiac told about at the village of Ninalicmic." "What did he say about it?" "Pontiac told of planting guns in the ground. He said they would grow, and the Indians could one day pluck them and use them." "Planting guns? I don't understand." "It's an amazement truly," put in Barringford. "We won't know what it means until " "Until what, Sam?
As the snow continued to come down, they made themselves comfortable under some immense spruce trees whose branches almost touched the ground. Here supper was had, and then Henry and Barringford, accompanied by White Buffalo; moved up to the top of a small hill which was close at hand, hoping to discover something from that point of vantage.
Getting out of the gully in the almost total darkness was now truly difficult, and had not Barringford been skilled in woodcraft he would certainly have been lost. But he had taken note of the way he had come and remembered every bush, tree, and rock, and now he returned by the same route.
"I shall report to the authorities without delay," said Captain Ecuyer. "More than likely you will be well rewarded for this discovery." But no reward was ever received. "Never mind the reward," answered Barringford. "I want to find Dave Morris." "At present I cannot send out another detachment, Barringford. But I will do so in a few days."
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