OWL-DRAGON

My Dear Runners Society friend Paul Loucks sent us an excerpt from Drums Along the Mohawk:
, a novel written in 1936.

German Flats lay 24 miles to the north and he knew he had probably
the pick of Brant's Indians on his trail, men who could run 80 miles
through the woods between sunrise and noon. But Adam knew that he
could run himself, and he knew that he would have to run on an open
trail and that once the Indians discovered that, they would know he
would stick to it. They wouldn't have to be bothered with tracking.

He eased up slightly, listening behind him. The first surge of
yelling had overshot the eastern ridge; now it returned. It would be
only a minute before they brought his tracks down to the trail. He
began to put on a little pressure to make the next bend; but just
before he rounded it he heard the war whoop slide up to its inhuman
pitch and a wild shot cut the air high over his head.


The passage Paul quoted is much longer and is an exciting account of Adam's run pursued by the Mohawks. The runner is Adam Helmer who was an historical character who did a run much as described in the novel.

I have often wondered if Indians had trod the trails thru Tyler and Ridley. But now I will also think of Adam and how would it be to be pursue for thirty miles.