A friend in the forest.

     The warm summer night had brought myself and a Mulongian Indian friend , Roger Moore, in a place that may have been traveled over by James Smith during his capture of 1754, when he and the Indians traveled north from the west branch of the Muskingum (also known as the Mohican River) up to the Black River (at present day Elyria).
     The camp we were staying at was started by myself and (Bob) Curtis Reynolds about three fortnights ago. When finished it shall be a three sided shelter , setting about 30 rods into the woods from a meadow. The woods has beech, hickory, maple, and basswood (linden).
The last tree being of great use to Curtis for making cordage from the inner bark. This he does with much skill.
     Just days before Curtis , Scott Thornsberry and I had cut more saplings to cover the  top of the shelter. Making ready for the fall hunts that are to come.
    Roger and I headed off the main path and departed for camp. It's about 1/2 mile back to our south.
We crossed the small stream which had a tiny amount of water flowing in it. The shelter is just up from it. This is the area I have seen fox and deer over many years. With all the summer growth the camp is well hidden. But fall and winter will reveal it more.
    Roger was pleased with our accommodations. The pieces of heavy cloth we had put up for a roof till the shelter is complete were still intact . Scott and Curtis had stayed there the night before as there was sign of their fire and still some wood for our supper fire.
We doffed our haversacks, bedroll, and accouterments. Roger was gathering more dead fall to burn while I retrieved some kindlin and struck sparks with my fire works.
  While the wood  burning filled our noses, we laid out the bedrolls. Mine contained a wool blanket with a narrow piece of oil cloth and Roger's larger wool blanket with his ever present match coat trimmed in heavy yellow ribbon . I myself  was just getting acquainted with many Indian customs of the Ohio Country. If you are well received by them (as many of the French and English traders are) you are their brother  or sister. I''m certainly happy that I have been looked upon with Friendship  from Roger. If not liked they will not even act like you exist, except to look upon you with  violent eyes.

     The coals were red hot and Roger retrieved a frying pan from his haversack, which has a Delaware design of flowers and vines embroidered on it. With a wood stick for the handle stuck into the iron pan he began cooking some venison. I threw some ears of green corn still in it's husk into the coals to cook. We shared the deer and corn  saving some of the corn to go with the second part of our feast.
     Very content already was my hunger, but my brother should bring out rabbit back straps, being fried in the grease from the venison

Such a feast to have that would make Kings and Queens of other lands be jealous. We now settled down for the evening after getting things in order in case we had to move quick in the night from either Virginians or Indians. Either one not a welcome visitor in the night. And an early death was not favored by Roger or I.
 Speaking of Virginians, Roger told of stories of his hunts in his families homeland.
Before being driven out to the Ohio Country by the whites from Virginia. He spoke of his younger days of life in a wigwam with his family.
The night sounds were filling the air. Roger returned the call of the great Barred Owl. This exchange of voices went on for quite some time. The owl moved in a little closer, then spotted our fire and on through the pale night sky to discover another sound in the woods or meadow.

We would also be discovering another sound ourselves. That being the howl of the coyote to the east of us. Once again Roger used his Indian skills to voice an answer or maybe ask a question to our brother. What ever Roger said it stirred the coyotes soul for the entire night and into the early morning.

   Throughout the night I awoke to peer into the night, listening for sounds that would tell me to sleep again .The forest was in harmony.
As the sky lightened with a new day Roger had the fire aflame already. We had some hot drink and a meager meal. This was all that was wanted by either , after the evening feast.
The woods was calm and quiet with the expectation of the coyotes song. Roger and I disused the coyotes situation and had a laugh at our poor brothers life. Which is probably better than ours.
We packed our blankets and essentials. Snuffed the fire and took one last look for anything we may have left.
Back to the main trail and heading towards the places we call home. Our short trip to our camp was over . But I enjoyed this time as I have with many good friends in the forest.

R.S.