Page:History of Delaware County (1856).djvu/201

 DELAWARE COUNTY. 177 was an acquaintance of the two young ladies wlio had been so barbarously slain by Shanks and his party. It is not too much to suppose he was a lover of one of them, or a near relative, as he readily agreed to assist Tom in killing the guests of Haines, although, as the event proved, he was unused to scenes of blood. If this were not so, why should he, who had never before engaged in any affair in which the life of an Indian was involved, now, in a time of profound peace, engage in an attempt to destroy two of the hated race, and one of whom was regarded with so much abhorrence, because he had shed the blood of two innocent and inoffensive girls ? After conferring with Tom, Haines returned home, with the understanding that the Indian-slayer should follow in a day or two, and bring Shimer with him. Haines found Canope and his companion still at his cabin when he returned. Quick and Shimer reached the Eddy a day or two after Haines got there. They found the latter and the Indians in the cabin waiting for their morning meal to be cooked by the " woman of the house.'' Ben professed to be surprised at their coming, and greeted Tom as an old acquaintance, but gave him a fictitious name, so that the Indians, who had never seen him before, would not know who he was. After inquiring where they were going, &c., he invited them to eat breakfast with him, which after a little urging, they agreed to do. While Ben's wife was " putting the dishes on the table," he filled a bowl with water, and taking it out of doors, put it on a stump a rod or two from the house. He then returned and told the Indians to wash themselves. They went out of doors for that purpose, and Haines had a brief opportunity to confer with Tom and Shimer. He told them that he would get the savages to go with him to the " fishing-rocks," to catch fish, and that the opportunity to shoot them from that place would be good, as there was a convenient clump of bushes close by, from which to fire. Tom expressed his satisfaction