Chapter VII. The Giant Bones

by Joseph A. Altsheler

　　About this time many people in Wareville, particularly the womenand children began to complain of physical ills, notablylassitude and a lack of appetite; their food, which consistedlargely of the game swarming all around the forest, had lost itssavor. There was no mystery about it; Tom Ross, Mr. Ware andothers promptly named the cause; they needed salt, which to thesettlers of Kentucky was almost as precious as gold; it wasobtained in two ways, either by bringing it hundreds of milesover the mountains from Virginia in wagons or on pack horses, orby boiling it out at the salt springs in the Indian-hauntedwoods.

　　They had neither the time nor the men for the long journey toVirginia, and they prepared at once for obtaining it at thesprings. They had already used a small salt spring but thesupply was inadequate, and they decided to go a considerabledistance northward to the famous Big Bone Lick. Nothing had beenheard in a long time of Indian war parties south of the Ohio, andthey believed they would incur no danger. Moreover they couldbring back salt to last more than a year.

　　When they first heard of the proposed journey, Paul Cotter pulledHenry to one side. They were just outside the palisade, and itwas a beautiful day, in early spring. Already kindly nature wassmoothing over the cruel scars made by the axes in the forest,and the village within the palisade began to have the comfortablelook of home.

　　"Do you know what the Big Bone Lick is, Henry?" asked Pauleagerly.

　　"No," replied Henry, wondering at his chum's excitement.

　　"Why it's the most wonderful place in all the world!" said Paul,jumping up and down in his wish to tell quickly. "There was ahunter here last winter who spoke to me about it. I didn'tbelieve him then, it sounded so wonderful, but Mr. Pennypackersays it's all true. There's a great salt spring, boiling out ofthe ground in the middle of a kind of marsh, and all around it,for a long distance, are piled hundreds of large bones, the bonesof gigantic animals, bigger than any that walk the earth to-day."

　　"See here, Paul," said Henry scornfully, "you can't stuff my earswith mush like that. I guess you were reading one of themaster's old romances, and then had a dream. Wake up, Paul!"

　　"It's true every word of it!"

　　"Then if there were such big animals, why don't we see 'emsometimes running through the forest?"

　　"Why, they've all been dead millions of years and their boneshave been preserved there in the marsh. They lived in anothergeologic era-that's what Mr. Pennypacker calls it-and animals astall as trees strolled up and down over the land and were thelords of creation."

　　Henry puckered his lips and emitted a long whistle ofincredulity.

　　"Paul," he said, reprovingly, "you do certainly have the gift ofspeech."

　　But Paul was not offended at his chum's disbelief.

　　"I'm going to prove to you, Henry, that is true," he said. " Mr.Pennypacker says it's so, he never tells a falsehood and he's ascholar, too. But you and I have got to go with the salt-makers,Henry, and we'll see it all. I guess if you look on it with yourown eyes you'll believe it."

　　"Of course," said Henry, "and of course I'll go if I can."

　　A trip through the forest and new country to the great saltspring was temptation enough in itself, without the addition ofthe fields of big bones, and that night in both the Ware andCotter homes, eloquent boys gave cogent reasons why they shouldgo with the band.

　　"Father," said Henry, "there isn't much to do here just now, andthey'll want me up at Big Bone Lick, helping to boil the salt anda lot of things."

　　Mr. Ware smiled. Henry, like most boys, seldom showed much zealfor manual labor. But Henry went on undaunted.

　　"We won't run any risk. No Indians are in Kentucky now and,father, I want to go awful bad."

　　Mr. Ware smiled again at the closing avowal, which was so frank.Just at that moment in another home another boy was saying almostexactly the same things, and another father ventured the sameanswer that Mr. Ware did, in practically the same words such asthese:

　　"Well, my son, as it is to be a good strong company of carefuland experienced men who will not let you get into any mischief,you can go along, but he sure that you make yourself useful."

　　The party was to number a dozen, all skilled foresters, and theywere to lead twenty horses, all carrying huge pack saddles forthe utensils and the invaluable salt. Mr. Silas Pennypacker whowas a man of his own will announced that he was going, too. Hepuffed out his ruddy cheeks and said emphatically:

　　"I've heard from hunters of that place; it's one of the greatcuriosities of the country and for the sake of learning I'm boundto see it. Think of all the gigantic skeletons of the mastodon,the mammoth and other monsters lying there on the groundfor ages!"

　　Henry and Paul were glad that Mr. Pennypacker was to be withthem, as in the woods he was a delightful comrade, able always tomake instruction entertaining, and the superiority of his mindappealed unconsciously to both of these boys who-each in hisway-were also of superior cast.

　　They departed on a fine morning-the spring was early and heldsteady-and all Wareville saw them go. It was a brilliant littlecavalcade; the horses, their heads up to scent the breeze fromthe fragrant wilderness, and the men, as eager to start, everyonewith a long slender-barreled Kentucky rifle on his shoulder, thefringed and brilliantly colored deerskin hunting shirt fallingalmost to his knees, and, below that deerskin leggings anddeerskin moccasins adorned with many-tinted beads. It was avivid picture of the young West, so young, and yet so strong andso full of life, the little seed from which so mighty a tree wassoon to grow.

　　All of them stopped again, as if by an involuntary impulse, atthe edge of the forest, and waved their hands in another, and,this time, in a last goodby to the watchers at the fort. Thenthey plunged into the mighty wilderness, which swept away andaway for unknown thousands of miles.

　　They talked for a while of the journey, of the things that theymight see by the way, and of those that they had left behind, butbefore long conversation ceased. The spell of the dark andillimitable woods, in whose shade they marched, fell upon them,and there was no noise, but the sound of breathing and the treadof men and horses. They dropped, too, from the necessities ofthe path through the undergrowth, into Indian file, one behindthe other.

　　Henry was near the rear of the line, the stalwart schoolmasterjust in front of him, and his comrade Paul, just behind. He wasfull of thankfulness that he had been allowed to go on thisjourney. It all appealed to him, the tale that Paul told of thegiant bones and the great salt spring, the dark woods full ofmystery and delightful danger, and his own place among thetrusted band, who were sent on such an errand. His heart swelledwith pride and pleasure and he walked with a light springy stepand with endurance equal to that of any of the men beforehim. He looked over his shoulder at Paul, whose face also wastouched with enthusiasm.

　　"Aren't you glad to be along?" he asked in a whisper.

　　"Glad as I can be," replied Paul in the same whisper.

　　Up shot the sun showering golden beams of light upon the forest.The air grew warmer, but the little band did not cease its rapidpace northward until noon. Then at a word from Ross all haltedat a beautiful glade, across which ran a little brook of coldwater. The horses were tethered at the edge of the forest, butwere allowed to graze on the young grass which was alreadybeginning to appear, while the men lighted a small fire of lastyear's fallen brushwood, at the center of the glade on the bankof the brook.

　　"We won't build it high," said Ross, who was captain as well asguide, "an' then nobody in the forest can see it. There may notbe an Indian south of the Ohio, but the fellow that's nevercaught is the fellow that never sticks his head in the trap."

　　"Sound philosophy! Sound philosophy! Your logic is irrefutable,Mr. Ross," said the school master.

　　Ross grinned. He did not know what "irrefutable" meant, but hedid know that Mr. Pennypacker intended to compliment him.Paul and Henry assisted with the fire. In fact they did most ofthe work, each wishing to make good his assertion that he wouldprove of use on the journey. It was a brief task to gather thewood and then Ross and Shif'less Sol lighted the fire, which theypermitted merely to smolder. But it gave out ample heat and in afew minutes they cooked over it their venison and corn bread andcoffee which they served in tin cups. Henry and Paul ate withthe ferocious appetite that the march and the clean air of thewilderness had bred in them, and nobody restricted them, becausethe forest was full of game, and such skillful hunters andriflemen could never lack for a food supply.

　　Mr. Pennypacker leaned with an air of satisfaction against theupthrust bough of a fallen oak.

　　"It's a wonderful world that we have here," he said, "and just tothink that we're among the first white men to find out what itcontains."

　　"All ready?" said Tom Ross, "then forward we go, we mustn't wastetime by the way. They need that salt at Wareville."

　　Once more they resumed the march in Indian file and amid thesilence of the woods. About the middle of the afternoon Rossinvited Mr. Pennypacker and the two boys to ride three of thepack horses. Henry at first declined, not willing to beconsidered soft and pampered, but as the schoolmaster promptlyaccepted and Paul who was obviously tired did the same, hechanged his mind, not because he needed rest, but lest Paulshould feel badly over his inferiority in strength.

　　Thus they marched steadily northward, Ross leading the way, andShif'less Sol who was lazy at the settlement, but never in thewoods where he was inferior in knowledge and skill to Ross only,covering the rear. Each of these accomplished borderers watchedevery movement of the forest about him, and listened for everysound; he knew with the eye of second sight what was natural andif anything not belonging to the usual order of things shouldappear, he would detect it in a moment. But they saw and heardnothing that was not according to nature: only the wind among theboughs, or the stamp of an elk's hoof as it fled, startled at thescent of man. The hostile tribes from north and south, fearfulof the presence of each other, seemed to have deserted the greatwilderness of Kentucky.

　　Henry noted the beauty of the country as they passed along; thegently rolling hills, the rich dark soil and the beautiful clearstreams. Once they came to a river, too deep to wade, but all ofthem, except the schoolmaster, promptly took off their clothingand swam it.

　　"My age and my calling forbid my doing as the rest of you do,"said the schoolmaster, "and I think I shall stick to my horse."

　　He rode the biggest of the pack horses, and when the stronganimal began to swim, Mr. Pennypacker thrust out his legs untilthey were almost parallel with the animal's neck, and reached theopposite bank, untouched by a drop of water. No one begrudgedhim his dry and unlabored passage; in fact they thought it right,because a schoolmaster was mightily respected in the earlysettlements of Kentucky and they would have regarded it asunbecoming to his dignity to have stripped, and swum the river asthey did.

　　Henry and Paul in their secret hearts did not envy theschoolmaster. They thought he had too great a weight of dignityto maintain and they enjoyed cleaving the clear current withtheir bare bodies. What? Be deprived of the wildernesspleasures? Not they! The two boys did not remount, after thepassage of the river, but, fresh and full of life, walked on withthe others at a pace so swift that the miles dropped rapidlybehind them. They were passing, too, through a country rarelytrodden even by the red men; Henry knew it by the greatquantities of game they saw; the deer seemed to look from everythicket, now and then a magnificent elk went crashing by, once abear lumbered away, and twice small groups of buffalo werestampeded in the glades and rushed off, snorting through theundergrowth.

　　"They say that far to the westward on plains that seem to have noend those animals are to be seen in millions," said Mr.Pennypacker.

　　"It's so, I've heard it from the Indians," confirmed Ross theguide.

　　They stopped a little while before sundown, and as the game wasso plentiful all around them, Ross said he would shoot a deer inorder to save their dried meat and other provisions.

　　"You come with me, while the others are making the camp," he saidto Henry.

　　The boy flushed with pride and gratification, and, taking hisrifle, plunged at once into the forest with the guide. But hesaid nothing, knowing that silence would recommend him to Rossfar more than words, and took care to bring down his moccasinedfeet without sound. Nor did he let the undergrowth rustle, as heslipped through it, and Ross regarded him with silent approval."A born woodsman," he said to himself.

　　A mile from the camp they stopped at the crest of a little hill,thickly clad with forest and undergrowth, and looked down intothe glade beyond. Here they saw several deer grazing, and as thewind blew from them toward the hunters they had taken no alarm.

　　"Pick the fat buck there on the right," whispered Ross to Henry.Henry said not a word. He had learned the taciturnity of thewoods, and leveling his rifle, took sure aim. There was no buckfever about him now, and, when his rifle cracked, the deerbounded into the air and dropped down dead. Ross, all business,began to cut up and clean the game, and with Henry'S aid, he didit so skillfully and rapidly that they returned to the camp,loaded with the juicy deer meat, by the time the fire andeverything else was ready for them.

　　Henry and Paul ate with eager appetites and when supper was overthey wrapped themselves in their blankets and lay down before thefire under the trees. Paul went to sleep at once, but Henry didnot close his eyes so soon. Far in the west he saw a last redbar of light cast by the sunken sun and the deep ruddy glow overthe fringe of the forest. Then it suddenly passed, as if whiskedaway by a magic hand, and all the wilderness was in darkness.But it was only for a little while. Out came the moon and thestars flashed one by one into a sky of silky blue. A south windlifting up itself sang a small sweet song among the branches, andHenry uttered a low sigh of content, because he lived in thewilderness, and because he was there in the depths of the foreston an important errand. Then he fell sound asleep, and did notawaken until Ross and the others were cooking breakfast.

　　A day or two later they reached the wonderful Big Bone Lick, andthey approached it with the greatest caution, because they wereafraid lest an errand similar to theirs might have drawn hostilered men to the great salt spring. But as they curved about thedesired goal they saw no Indian sign, and then they went throughthe marsh to the spring itself.

　　Henry opened his eyes in amazement. All that the schoolmasterand Paul had told was true, and more. Acres and acres of themarsh lands were fairly littered with bones, and from the mudbeneath other and far greater bones had been pulled up and leftlying on the ground. Henry stood some of these bones on end, andthey were much taller than he. Others he could not lift.

　　"The mastodon, the mammoth and I know not what," said Mr.Pennypacker in a transport of delight. "Henry, you and Paul arelooking upon the remains of animals, millions of years old,killed perhaps in fights with others of their kind, over thesevery salt springs. There may not be another such place as thisin all the world."

　　Mr. Pennypacker for the first day or two was absolutely of nohelp in making the salt, because he was far too much excitedabout the bones and the salt springs themselves.

　　"I can understand," said Henry, "why the animals should comehere after the salt, since they crave salt just as we do, but itseems strange to me that salt water should be running out of theground here, hundreds of miles from the sea."

　　"It's the sea itself that's coming up right at our feet,"replied the schoolmaster thoughtfully. "Away back yonder, ahundred million years ago perhaps, so far that we can have noreal conception of the time, the sea was over all this part ofthe world. When it receded, or the ground upheaved, vastsubterranean reservoirs of salt water were left, and now, whenthe rain sinks down into these full reservoirs a portion of thesalt water is forced to the surface, which makes the salt springsthat are scattered over this part of the country. It is aprocess that is going on continually. At least, that's aplausible theory, and it's as good as any other."

　　But most of the salt-makers did not bother themselves aboutcauses, and they accepted the giant bones as facts, withoutcuriosity about their origin. Nor did they neglect to put themto use. By sticking them deep in the ground they made tripods ofthem on which they hung their kettles for boiling the salt water,and of others they devised comfortable seats for themselves. Tosuch modern uses did the mastodon come! But to the schoolmasterand the two boys the bones were an unending source of interest,and in the intervals of labor, which sometimes were pretty long,particularly for Mr. Pennypacker, they were ever prowling in theswamp for a bone bigger than any that they had found before.

　　But the salt-making progressed rapidly. The kettles were alwaysboiling and sack after sack was filled with the preciouscommodity. At night wild animals, despite the known presence ofstrange, new creatures, would come down to the springs, so eagerwere they for the salt, and the men rarely molested them. Only adeer now and then was shot for food, and Henry and Paul lay awakeone night, watching two big bull buffaloes, not fifty yards away,fighting for the best place at a spring.

　　Ross and Shif'less Sol did not do much of the work at thesalt-boiling, but they were continually scouting through theforest, on a labor no less important, watching for raiding warparties who otherwise might fall unsuspected upon the toilers.Henry, as a youth of great promise, was sometimes taken with themon these silent trips through the woods, and the first time hewent he felt badly on Paul's account, because his comrade was notchosen also. But when he returned he found that his sympathy waswasted. Paul and the master were deeply absorbed in the task oftrying to fit together some of the gigantic bones that is, tore-create the animal to which they thought the bones belonged,and Paul was far happier than he would have been on the scout orthe hunt.

　　The day's work was ended and all the others were sitting aroundthe camp fire, with the dying glow of the setting sun floodingthe springs, the marshes and the camp fire, but Paul and themaster toiled zealously at the gigantic figure that they hadupreared, supported partly with stakes, and bearing a remoteresemblance to some animal that lived a few million years or soago. The master had tied together some of the bones with withes,and he and Paul were now laboriously trying to fit a section ofvertebra into shape.

　　Shif'less Sol who had gone with Henry sat down by the fire,stuffed a piece of juicy venison into his mouth and then lookedwith eyes of wonder at the two workers in the cause of naturalhistory.

　　"Some people 'pear to make a heap o' trouble for theirselves," hesaid, "now I can't git it through my head why anybody would wantto work with a lot o' dead old bones when here's a pile o' sweetdeer meat just waitin' an' beggin' to be et up."

　　At that moment the attempt of Paul and the schoolmaster toreconstruct a prehistoric beast collapsed. The figure that theyhad built up with so much care and labor suddenly slipped loosesomewhere, and all the bones fell down in a heap. The masterstared at them in disgust and exclaimed:

　　"It's no use! I can't put them together away out here in thewilderness!"

　　Then he stalked over to the fire, and taking a deer steak, atehungrily. The steak was very tender, and gradually a look ofcontent and peace stole over Mr. Pennypacker's face.

　　"At least," he murmured," if it's hard to be a scholar here,one can have a glorious appetite, and it is most pleasant togratify it."

　　As the dark settled down Ross said that in one day more theyought to have all the salt the horses could carry, and then itwould be best to depart promptly and swiftly for Wareville. Ahalf hour later all were asleep except the sentinel.