Indian Cruelty: A Short Story

squirrel, but not to have kept running all day.
What the land agents had done on the sly was hire three fast runners and cleared paths ahead of them so they could cover a tremendous amount of land in the time the Indians had agreed to. That area was further multiplied when the new boundary lines were drawn from the point where the last man stopped in a northeast direction on over to join the boundary on the Delaware River. Then another boundary line was drawn back down to the beginning point making a huge triangle to include thousands of acres of fertile land. It was approximately the size of Rhode Island. It had been prime, ancestral Indian Territory full of game and had pure mountain streams abounding with fish and beaver.
It was much,
At first the road north was well worn and not that difficult to travel. Horses’ hooves and wagon wheels from others before them had pounded down the earth into solid footing. They had waited until after the early rainy season so they would have fewer problems with the wagon wheels getting bogged down in mud. Eventually though the wide track became very narrow and tall grass and brush started showing up between the rutted tracks. Boulders jutted up here and there, tree roots and dangerous narrow passageways became more common. In some places along the streams the earth was slippery and swampy. In a few places others before them had put down logs to help the wagons cross those wet areas. But further along there was nothing like that and they just had to do the best they could to navigate crossing through the mud. Sometimes the route disappeared into tall clumps of ferns higher than the wheel hubs and it was hard to find the
“Yep, I knowed that” he said as if he’d heard the same story several times already. He motioned them to sit on some of the wooden barrels that held provisions. He got two banged up tin cups and poured them some kind of strong tea from a blackened metal pot. It tasted kind of minty and also like the pot had never been cleaned. He told them it was made from roasted dandelion roots and mint leaves. Ina noticed his hands were blackened like the pot also and wondered if he ever washed them even though there was soap for sale there. They sipped their drink slowly enjoying the break from the rough wagon ride and talked with him hoping to get more solid information on what was really ahead of them yet. They wanted him to verify their dreams of what could be waiting for them. Tag took a big knife out of a leather sheaf he wore and started digging dirt from under his fingernails. “Yep”, he nodded his head,” theres lots of land up there fer anyone who kin do the back breakin’ work ta clearing. Lots of folks are settlin” up in there. All kinds of folks, old ‘uns and young ‘uns. Theys all headin’ up thet a way” he