position and her home
without much bitterness. But she was too true an Indian to desert her
tribe. As her husband had no notion of leaving his trading station among
the Creeks, she had left him and her blue-eyed baby and had come with
her kindred, bringing with her her little son, a true Indian, the child
of her first husband.

The boy played at shooting wild turkeys with black Jim that day, and
many times afterward. As time passed he thought less and less of the
blue-eyed sister and more and more of his comrade with a black skin.

II. THE FLORIDA HOME

These Red Sticks were not the first wanderers who had sought homes and
safety in Florida. For some fifty years bands of Indians enticed by the
rich hunting grounds, or driven by the persecutions of the Creeks, had
left their kindred in Georgia and Alabama to try their fortunes in
Florida.

They had found other tribes in possession of the peninsula, but the
newcomers were more warlike and soon made themselves and their claim to
the land respected by the natives. Indeed, the immigrants soon came to
be looked upon as the ruling people. They were called Seminoles, which
means runaways.

The Seminoles would not attend Creek councils. They refused to be bound
by treaties made by the Creeks. In all ways they wished to be considered
a separate and distinct people.

[Illustration: SEMINOLE INDIANS]

Among the Florida Indians there lived a people of another race, the
Maroons or free negroes. In those days Florida was owned by Spain.
Therefore, American slaves once safely within its borders were free men.
They became Spanish subjects and their former masters had no power to
reclaim them. Florida formed a convenient refuge, and slaves were sure
of welcome there, especially if they were willing to exchange a white
master for a red one. Most negroes were glad to do this, for the slaves
of the Indians were happy, independent slaves. Their chief duty to their
masters was to raise for them a few bushels of corn each year. Though
the Indians in general regarded themselves as superior to the negroes,
the two races of exiles felt strong sympathy and affection for each
other. They lived in the same manner, observing common customs. They
fought together against a common enemy. They even intermarried.

But the country was extensive and only thinly settled; and so,
notwithstanding the frequent increase of their force by Indians and
negroes, warriors were still more valuable th