The clouds had blown away during the night and the sun was shining bright, though there was still a low haze over the land after the rain. A vee formation of honking Canada geese flew overhead that morning and Little Crane Hopping, looking up, made the observation, “Look, the geese are already flying south. Winter will come early this year.”
Fishcarrier was old and the trail had tired him. He was in no mood to think of winter just yet and he looked up and said, “No, they are just going down to the lake after filling up on corn. They would be higher in the sky if they intended to fly very far.”
The truth was, they all knew that Little Crane Hopping was right, and Yellow Bear gave the young brave a knowing wink. They had all began to notice flocks of geese flying high in the sky, and they were all flying south. But nobody had a mind to tell Fishcarrier that winter would come early. Besides, they were eager to hit the trail. It was a cool day, a good day for running. Mossy Place was chewing on some jerky as they hit the road that led south, between the lakes, which put him in a good mood. He had lost a bit of weight over the summer and his powerful muscles were more distinct, a fact he was proud of.
Knowing they were halfway home also helped everyone’s state of mind, and after he’d finished his jerky, Mossy Place started a joke about Sagoyewathah, (He Keeps Them Awake), always famous as a great talker among his people, but known as Red Jacket to the whites, from the scarlet officer’s jacket once presented to him for his quickness in delivering messages for the British army. Even after that red coat wore out, he obtained another one and kept wearing red coats until the end of his life, as well as the medal that Washington once gave him. The travelers knew he lived not far to the south, along the west side of the lake.
“I heard that Red Jacket took Butler’s best and fastest horse when he left Newtown,” said Mossy Place as they jogged down the trail.
Drags Canoe chuckled at that and said, “But I heard it was too slow for him, so he jumped off after a few miles and ran the rest of the way.”
That brought a few laughs, and It Was Bruised added, “Of Course, he got tired of having nobody to talk to, so he stopped at some poor family’s lodge and made loud speeches that kept them awake for many nights.”
A few more laughed at that idea, and not able to keep out of a good joke, Fishcarrier shook off his gloom and came up with, “That’s right; they tried to give him some food to keep his mouth busy, but he wouldn’t take it, but just kept talking. Finally all their ears fell off from so much talking, and he collected all their ears and brought them home and told everybody they were from rebel soldiers that he had killed.”
They all laughed now, all except Too Tall Pine, and then Drags Canoe suggested, “Maybe we ought to go pay Red Jacket a visit.”
“Yes, I wonder what Red Jacket is doing today?” asked Little Crane Hopping, toward the back of the line, who was coming into his own as a warrior.
“Probably not cleaning the blood off his hatchet,” observed Fishcarrier.
“Nor is he hanging up his scalps,” added It Was Bruised.
“He’s probably sitting beside his fireplace while his wife puts medicine on his sore feet from all that running,” threw in Mossy Place, who had started the joke in the first place and then had had a hard time getting another word in.
“And I’ll bet he has a lot to say while he sits there in front of his fireplace having his wounds tended to,” was Yellow Bear’s contribution, which drew a good laugh.
Too Tall Pine had no intention of paying a visit to Red Jacket and he found none of their jokes amusing. The joking dwindled away from his grim looks and they all thought of home as they jogged along. Yellow Bear thought of his mother, and of his uncle, and of the old One Eye, and longed to see them all. But more and more he found himself thinking of Deep Colored Flower, who was fast becoming a woman when he had left.
The trail to the south led across a patchwork of meadow and forest, an area long lived upon by the Iroquois, and other people before them. Many areas between the lakes had once been cleared for cultivation, and then when the land gave out the people would simply move a few miles and start anew. They had just crossed a shrubby meadow and were about to enter a forest of maple and pine when Too Tall Pine suddenly stopped. He just stood there on the trail with his back to them, and so they waited behind him, thinking that maybe he had to relieve himself. Then he turned and said, “We will wait here.”
They waited there where the meadow met the forest all that day, mostly in silence. They were only two days from home now, and they were all eager to see their homes and families, but no one questioned Too Tall Pine, for they suspected why he was waiting. At least he kept everyone busy.
The first thing he did was to send Mossy Place and the young Left Hand back to Canadesaga, to keep him informed of his rear. Then he sent two groups of three off on hunts. Yellow Bear, Drags Canoe, and It Was Bruised were together in one party to the west; three others to the east. The others he had repairing packs, equipment, and clothing, while he talked quietly with Fishcarrier. Drags Canoe shot a fine doe late that afternoon, and the other party brought back a couple of pheasants. They camped that night just inside the trees, and Too Tall Pine scolded them when the flames of their fire grew too high. He also posted sentries to keep watch over the sleepers that night.
In the morning, Too Tall Pine decided to send Fishcarrier home, to tell the village of their coming. He had Blackbird and Little Crane Hopping go with him, and the two young braves smiled and talked of how happy they were to be the first ones to return to their village. But Yellow Bear knew it was because Too Tall Pine did not want to be the first to tell their people of their many defeats and humiliations, that Fishcarrier was better at explaining such things, though he did not want to think that he might be bringing them even worse news.
The others remained there in their little camp all that morning, and they cut strips of deer meat and slowly dried them on simple stick racks over the low coals from the night before. It wasn’t until late in the afternoon when they saw Mossy Place and Left Hand come running across the scrubby meadow.
“The army has followed us,” said Mossy Place. “They are even now setting up their camp in Canadesaga, where the people have fled.”
Too Tall Pine knew Sullivan’s army cared little for his tiny band of warriors. And if the rebel general had accepted the peace offering of the Cayuga chief and the belt of wampum from Blueback, who had been in a mighty hurry and probably met the army at Canandaigua, Sullivan would have turned his army south, and gone back the way he had come. There was only one explanation; they were not interested in making peace, but were coming to destroy the Cayuga lands, just as he had feared.
“Go back and watch them,” Too Tall Pine told Mossy Place and Left Hand. “Find out how many they are, and where they are going.” Then he told the others, “We will wait here.” What he did not tell them was that he had told Fishcarrier to warn the village that the rebel army might be coming, and to make them start packing their possessions and be ready to leave at a moment’s notice.
It pained Yellow Bear to look into his father’s eyes, for though Too Tall Pine was good at hiding his feelings, Yellow Bear could see that there was much anguish behind the stoic face his father presented. He could tell by the way his father absentmindedly poked at their fire that evening that his heart was greatly troubled. He wanted to say something that would give his father comfort, but he could think of no way to say anything, and the more he thought about it, the more did he come to realize that no matter what words he chose, his father would only scoff at them in resentment.
The next day was again hot and dry and Too Tall Pine kept everyone near the camp while he watched the field to the north from the shade of the trees. It was late in the morning when they saw the smoke where they knew Canadesaga to be, and it was almost noon before Mossy Place and Left Hand returned to tell them, “There are maybe four hundred soldiers. They burned the homes and crops of those they drove away, and then half went east; the other half comes this way.”
So it was true; the rebel army was not through with their mission of destruction and was coming into the Cayuga lands, down both sides of the lake. Too Tall Pine had contemplated making hit and run strikes against them, but Fishcarrier had dissuaded him from the idea. “This is not a time for personal glory,” he had told him before he left. “The shedding of blood will not help us now, but only bring retaliation. We must think of our people. We might have to leave our village behind and go and start a new life somewhere else. We will need you and all the men to help protect our families.”
Too Tall Pine did not even wait to see for himself the first skirmishers coming over the scrubby fields to the north, but had them stuff their packs with their few possessions before hitting the trail that afternoon. He ran fast through the cool of the forest. They crossed many ravines where streams ran down into the lake called Tiohero, and finally they came to the largest of the rivers, where not far downstream they all knew was the high falls where Too Tall Pine’s grandfather had trapped and then threw from the cliff the body of the great chief of the Delaware’s, Taughannock, during their war with the southern tribes. There was a small village not far upstream, called A Place of Fallen Timber, and Too Tall Pine sent Left Hand and Blackbird to go and warn them of the rebel army before he led the rest south, toward their village.
When they reached the outskirts of Neodakheat, there was Fishcarrier and Looks Both Ways, waiting beside the trail in the cool of the forest.
“The rebel army is coming,” said Too Tall Pine as he passed them.
Looks Both Ways greeted each of the returning men and then he trotted beside Yellow Bear, and waited to hear something of what they had experienced and endured during the summer, but Yellow Bear could only say, “I am glad to see you again, Uncle.” To Yellow Bear’s mind, he had earned little in the way of glory on the battlefield and could not bring himself to tell of their defeat and constant running away before the enemy, nor about the endless blackened fields and burned villages they had passed on their way home.
Looks Both Ways understood, and he could plainly see the tired eyes and faces of defeat on the returning warriors, grim and sober as they told of the army that was close behind them, and that they would have to leave their homes right away. He wanted to tell them about the death of the old one eye, but realized that there was little time to consider the murder of an old man now; such bad news could wait.
Yellow Bear’s mother ran to him when she saw them coming, as did all the women who had been patiently awaiting the return of their sons or husbands. Two Horns got to him first, and he ran up and put his hands on his shoulders and said, “Welcome home, my friend; I missed you and am glad to see you are strong and healthy,” and Yellow Bear was glad to see him too, and said so.
But he could see that Two Horns was looking for his father, Drags Canoe, and Yellow Bear had to tell him, “Your father was killed at Newtown.”
Two Horns did not even show that he was surprised but only said, “I will hear more about his death later.”
“Yes.”
And then Yellow Bear saw Deep Colored Flower come out of her family’s lodge up on the hill, and he was about to wave to her, but then her mother called her and she ran back inside, to help her family. His mother refrained from taking him in her arms, for he was a man now and would not embarrass him in front of his fellow warriors, but she placed her hand on his shoulder and he saw that tears were welling up in her eyes from her relief, her feelings a confused mixture of joy at their return and sorrow at having to leave their home behind, and many could be seen packing up their belongings and piling them onto the three rickety wagons that were the common property of the village, and it was a confusing homecoming for them all.
Too Tall Pine had left the management of their move to Fishcarrier, Looks Both Ways, the women, and the old men. He sent It Was Bruised and Little Crane Hopping to go and warn the Tutelo encampment at Coreogonel, near the falls at the end of the swamp. Then he took Drags Canoe, Mossy Place, and It Was Bruised, along with a few young braves, back up the trail to watch for the possible arrival of enemy soldiers, telling Fishcarrier that they would put up a token resistance in case the army came before the people could get out. Yellow Bear had wanted to go up the trail with his father, but Too Tall Pine adamantly refused, telling him, “Help your mother. Take only what we will need and leave the rest behind. We have a long journey ahead, so be quick. As soon as you are ready, take the trail toward Catherine’s Town.”
And so Yellow Bear helped his mother to pack their things, all their clothes, their bedding, her kitchen kettles, gardening tools, and various baskets and sacks filled with dried meat and parched corn. The village had had a rich harvest in spite of the hot, dry summer, for many of their fields were fed by swamp drainage, but they would have to leave much of their dried corn behind, stored in the ground at the edge of their fields, protected from moisture and animals with layers of bark, then covered with earth, and some of the women were piling branches over the cache sites to try and hide them from the soldiers. Other fields were still full of ripe pumpkins, squash, and melons, and the people filled as many baskets of vegetables as their horses and three wagons could carry, and much would be carried on strong backs.
While Yellow Bear was helping his mother pack the last of their belongings onto the back of a wagon already piled high with the belongings of three other families, Looks Both Ways was putting the belongings of his family lodge onto a travois behind their big gray horse. What Yellow Bear could not see was that his mother, She Makes It Straight, sat stubbornly beside their outdoor fire pit, and when he finished securing a hide tarp over their things, she told him, “I cannot travel; my bones will break.”
Looks Both Ways knew his mother suffered from severe rheumatism, but he did not know the extent of her suffering, the terrible pain in her joints, nor did he realize that she was almost blind. He thought she was simply being stubborn, for she had always been headstrong. But when he tried to hoist her up on the back of the gray, she kicked him, and screamed, “You will kill me if you pick me up! I cannot walk, and if you put me on the horse, it will kill me!”
He tried all his powers of persuasion, all to no avail, and then he finally told her, “But the soldiers will kill you.”
“Then let them kill me,” came her adamant reply. “Even if I could walk or ride, I would rather die in the place of my ancestors than in some strange land where my spirit would wander and get lost.”
Most of the people had already packed up and were leaving when Yellow Bear and his mother were ready to go. But when they looked toward the lodge of Looks Both Ways, he was still waiting beside the big gray horse. He noticed them looking his way and he waved to them as if to say, “Go. We will be along soon.”
And so Yellow Bear led the horse and wagon away, with the grandmother of Mossy Place sitting on top, next to a cage filled with chickens and the two children of It Was Bruised riding on the back of the horses. All the others walked alongside the wagon, carrying bundles upon their backs, or leading the occasional cow, following behind the last of the people who were already into the forest, on the trail that led over the mountain to the west, their dogs running alongside.
Yellow Bear turned to take one last look back on the place that he had called home for most of his life, an empty place now, and presently his mother said, “Come, the soldiers will soon be here, and your father cannot leave until we are all gone.” And with that, he reluctantly turned away and led their horse and wagon onto the trail that led up the hill.
Too Tall Pine waited until he saw the forward skirmishers coming across the fields to the north before he went back to the village. He was pleased to see that everyone had gone, except for Looks Both Ways who was still standing beside his mother at their outdoor fire pit in front of their lodge. But he was surprised to see that the old woman was placing sticks on the fire, and cooking a meal in her big kettle.
“What are you doing? There is no time to eat,” said Too Tall Pine. “Can you not smell the smoke? The soldiers have burned The Place of Fallen Timber, and they will soon be here.”
“She will not go with us,” said Looks Both Ways. “Her wish is to remain in the land of her ancestors.”
Too Tall Pine looked at the old woman. He had never liked the mother of Looks Both Ways, and had grown to like her even less as she had aged and became even more stubborn and irritable, but he knew she was too old to travel and would only slow down the others. It was only natural that she would wish to remain in the land of her ancestors, and he had to appreciate that her sacrifice was for the good of the others. It was in the tradition of the old way, but even so, she was his mother-in-law and a clan mother and it would not be honorable to leave her behind, but he knew she would not be convinced to come with them, and knew that Looks Both Ways had already put forth his best arguments. But there might be another way, and so he said to his old friend, “I do not think they will harm an old woman. After the people are safe and the soldiers are gone we will come back for her.”
Looks Both Ways was reluctant to leave his old mother, but he had to respect her wish to remain behind. He also knew that the soldiers would either kill him or take him prisoner if he stayed with her, and he would not be able to help anyone if that happened. And so, encouraged by his friend’s promise, he reluctantly allowed Too Tall Pine to lead him away.
She was still sitting before her fireplace in the late afternoon sunshine when the soldiers came.