Kings Pinnacle (38 page)

When the young warrior found
a good spot where there was a large gap in the foliage, he turned
abruptly toward the river and raced down the bank into the
shallows. As soon as he reached a depth of water up to his knees,
without pausing, he dived straight out in a desperate flying leap.
He was attempting to strike Alex and Martha’s canoe with his hands
to overturn it. Alex’s rifle and pistol were still unloaded, since
he had recently fired both. He had not had time to reload, so he
dropped his paddle into the bottom of the canoe and grasped Slayer
like a quarterstaff. Just as the leaping Raven reached for the
canoe, Alex swung Slayer in a tight arc so that the barrel caught
the Raven on his temple as he was about to strike the canoe. This
stopped his forward momentum, and he fell just short of the
canoe.

Alex set Slayer back down in
the canoe and resumed paddling. He turned and watched the
unconscious young warrior float face down in the river behind the
canoe. He couldn’t tell if the Raven was alive or dead.

The canoes were soon out of
sight of the young brave and the rest of the warriors as Alex and
his companions paddled to safety down the river.

“That was a close call,”
said Alex to Martha as they paddled downstream in the center of the
Watauga River.

“It was, and I am going to
have to change one thing, if we keep this up,” said
Martha.

“
What’s that?” asked
Alex.

“I’m going to have to start
wearing pants so I can run faster,” said Martha with a
smile.

* * * *

Captain Ferguson

“
Captain Ferguson, your
recommendations about the fortifications at Stony Point were spot
on,” said General Clinton.

The captain almost said, “I
told you so,” but he caught himself just before he blurted it out
and instead said, “I fear that you are correct,
General.”

“The rebels have already
abandoned Stony Point because they realized that they could not
hold those inferior fortifications either. I am going to appoint
you Governor and Commandant of both Stony Point and Verplanck’s
Point on the opposite bank. I want you to completely rebuild those
ramparts and add anything else you believe necessary to make sure
that they do not fall into enemy hands again,” said General
Clinton.

“I want you to keep the
King’s Ferry in service at all costs. We need that ferry to move
men and supplies back and forth across the Hudson River. I also
want to deny the enemy access to this supply line,” continued the
general.

“
I will do my best,”
replied Captain Ferguson.

“I don’t know how long I
will need you at Stony Point, but I will give you as much warning
of any changes as I can. General Washington has deployed his army
into strong defensive positions and refuses to be drawn out into a
general confrontation,” continued the general.

“I understand, sir,” replied
the captain.

Captain Ferguson packed his
gear and took a few men with him for the forty mile ride from New
York to Stony Point. When he arrived at Stony Point, he immediately
set about the task of improving the fortifications. All his work
was for naught a few months later, when he was ordered to dismantle
the works and return to New York.

* * * *

Alex

“
Snag, on yer left,”
shouted the Longhunter.

Alex lowered his paddle into
the stream and steered his canoe to the right following the
Longhunter and Jonas as they paddled with the current down the
Watauga River.

“Let me take the lead,”
shouted Alex as he and Martha paddled past Jonas and the Longhunter
when they slowed to navigate around the snag.

After following the river
with the current for another quarter mile, Alex paddled for the
north bank of the river to a sandy spot on the shore where he could
beach his canoe. The Longhunter and Jonas followed close behind.
They piled out of the canoes and pulled them up out of the water
onto the bank.

“We can’t keep paddling down
the river at night with it running this fast. We’re sure to hit
something in the dark and that would be a disaster,” said
Alex.

“Yer right lad, what do ye
think we ought to do?” asked the Longhunter.

“The Watauga flows due west
from here for another quarter mile. Then it curves north and bends
back east, forming a horseshoe. We are standing on the neck of the
horseshoe right now. We can carry the canoes across the neck
tonight and set them on the bank of the other side, ready to go as
soon as it’s light. Then we can make a camp beside the canoes for
what’s left of the night. We’ll take turns at sentry duty on this
bank right here so that if anyone comes down the river tonight, the
sentry can hightail it back across the neck and help us launch the
canoes. That way, we will still have at least a quarter mile head
start on anyone following us.

“Tomorrow morning as soon as
it’s light, we can launch the canoes and paddle downstream to Fort
Patrick Henry,” continued Alex. “We’ll try to round up enough men
there to hike back down to Fort Watauga and attack the Cherokees
from behind. If we can catch them between us and the troops in Fort
Watauga, they might not expect it. We stand a good chance of
breaking the siege and running them off.”

“Sounds like a good plan to
me. Let’s haul these canoes across the neck,” said the
Longhunter.

As soon as they had
positioned the canoes on the far bank, they set up camp on that
bank for what was left of the night.

“I’ll take the first watch,”
said the Longhunter as he left the camp to hike back across the
neck to watch on the bank.

No one disagreed with him,
and soon Alex, Martha and Jonas fell into an exhausted
sleep.

* * * *

Robert and Hugh

“
It looks like we found
the sulfur deposit that we were looking for. The Pattons will be
very happy,” said Hugh.

Robert nodded.

Robert and Hugh had soaked
in the sulfur springs all evening and into the night, until their
skin was soft and wrinkled. They camped near the hot springs and
got up early next morning to explore more of the area around the
springs. Their search soon turned up several deposits of sulfur in
the area. They collected enough raw sulfur to fill their saddle
bags for the trip back to the Pattons’ gunpowder mill.

“I also found something
else,” said Robert glancing at Hugh.

“And just what would that
be?”

“Come and take a look at
this,” said Robert, who led Hugh up above the springs and pulled
back some bushes so that Hugh could see what he had
found.

As he held back the bushes,
Robert pointed to an outcrop in the side of the ridge just above
the sulfur springs.

“What is it,
Robber?”

“It’s a vein of gold ore
that runs right into the ridge under this shelf. That nugget I
found in the creek must have broken off of this vein and washed
down the ridge into the hot pool. From there it must have washed
down into the creek.”

“
Then we are
rich.”

“Not exactly,” replied
Robert. “We would have to come up with a way to mine the ore and
then convert it to something we can spend. Besides, we don’t even
own this land.”

“
Who does own
it?”

“
I have no idea; probably
the Cherokees if I had to guess.”

“What do you think we ought
to do?”

“I’m not sure, but for right
now, I think that we should cover up this gold vein with rocks to
hide it until we can decide what to do about it. Let’s scout down
from the hot spring and then down the stream a ways to pick up any
more gold nuggets that may have washed down. We need the sulfur
more than we need the gold right now. No one but you and I needs to
know about the gold. Let’s keep it to ourselves,” said Robert,
glancing at Hugh, who nodded in agreement.

Robert and Hugh worked
together to carry some large boulders and smaller rocks to stack up
by the bushes in front of the gold vein under the shelf. They made
it look like it was a natural rock fall that had come down from
higher up on the ridge. They also added some loose foliage and
wiped away all the traces of their work. Anyone who ventured close
would have difficulty finding it if they didn’t already know it was
there. Then they walked down from the hot spring and continued down
the creek for about a mile, picking up any gold nuggets that they
spied in the creek. When they had finished, they had collected
three large nuggets and a pouch full of smaller ones. Robert put
the large gold nuggets in the pouch with the small ones and placed
it under some of the large rocks that they had piled up at the gold
vein in the ridge.

“Robber, how are we going to
find this place again?” asked Hugh.

“I’ve been thinking about
that, and I think that we should follow this valley and the stream
north northeast, staying between the two ridges on the east and
west of us. It appears to run fairly straight, with nothing
blocking it as far as I can tell. We’re sure to arrive at the south
fork of the Holston River or the Watauga River after we travel a
few miles. I am fairly sure that this stream must run into one of
those rivers. When we get there we will need to mark the
intersection of this stream and the river on the river bank
somehow. So to come back, all we have to do is to follow the
Watauga to the south fork of the Holston, if it is that far, to the
place we mark on the bank. Then we ride south southwest between the
ridges along this stream and that should lead us right back here,”
replied Robert.

They camped for a second
night at their newly discovered sulfur spring. Early the next
morning, they double-checked their work to make sure everything
looked like they had left it. They also took bearings on top of
both ridges so that they had a good idea how to identify the area
again when they came back. As soon as they were sure they could
find the spot again, they packed up their gear and loaded the raw
sulfur that they had found on their horses. They mounted up and
rode north northeast along the stream, toward the river, keeping as
close to the stream as they could. Robert estimated that they
should arrive at the south fork of Holston River or the Watauga
River in about three hours of riding.

* * * *

Alex

“
It’s probably about
twenty miles from here to Fort Patrick Henry. We should be there a
little before noon,” said Alex as he pushed the canoe, with Martha
sitting at the forward paddling position, off into the
river.

The Longhunter and Jonas
pushed off and took the lead as they traveled north on the Watauga
River toward the fort. The canoe trip on that portion of the river
was fairly uneventful as canoe trips on a swollen river go. They
didn’t see any more Cherokees on the river or on the banks during
the morning. The Raven, if he was still alive, and his warriors who
had joined him in the chase, had evidently given up and returned to
the siege of Fort Watauga.

They had paddled for about
two hours when they came to the point in the river Watauga River
merged with the south fork of the Holston River, which flowed from
the east. From this point north toward Fort Patrick Henry, the
river was called the south fork of the Holston River. When the two
canoes had passed that point in the river and continued paddling
north, Alex glanced over his shoulder, toward the east and down the
south fork of the Holston. He was horrified to see four Cherokee
war canoes in the river, coming right at them. The four Cherokee
canoes made the right turn at the fork into the main river torrent
and began gaining on Alex and Martha. The warriors in the lead
canoes were obviously anticipating catching up to them.

The Longhunter and Jonas had
opened up such a large gap in front of Alex that they had no idea
that Alex and Martha were being chased by the Cherokee warriors.
Alex knew he was in trouble again. The braves were sure to catch up
to him and Martha. The Longhunter and Jonas were a long way ahead
of them and might be able to stay ahead, but Martha was not a
strong enough paddler for her and Alex to stay ahead of the
Cherokees. Alex began to consider his various alternatives, none of
which was very good. He had only a rifle, a pistol, and his longbow
and arrows in the canoe with him. It was Alex against eight
Cherokees, and the odds of surviving that confrontation were not
favorable.

To Alex’s advantage, the
south fork of Holston River flow combined with the Watauga River
was deeper and steadier than the Watauga River had been, giving the
canoe somewhat better stability as it was paddled down the river.
Alex took advantage of that stability by laying his paddle down in
the canoe and picking up Slayer.

“Martha, stop paddling when
I tell you,” said Alex.

Martha nodded that she
understood and kept paddling as hard as she could. Alex rolled over
in the canoe, facing to the rear, lying on his belly. He pulled up
Slayer and took as steady an aim as possible in a bouncing canoe at
the lead brave in the lead canoe.