Chapter Nineteen
The Dark TrailOver the next few weeks, Jonathan’s moods grew blacker, as reports of bloody reprisals against the white settlers grew in number, and raiding parties began bringing captives back to the village. Finally one day, when White Deer was caring for Matthew, Jonathan came into the lodge in a great state of agitation. He knelt down beside her and took her hands in his. “White Deer, I must go. Today the warriors brought prisoners back to the village and tortured them before they killed them. One of them was a man I knew back in the settlement at Fort Pitt. He didn’t recognize me. I watched as they scalped and mutilated his children before him and then tied him to a stake by a leash and piled a ring of wood around it. They set the wood on fire and he ran around and ar
