CHAPTER EIGHT.
We and the savage Redskins were both utterly helpless; they from beingovercome by liquor, we from having our arms firmly bound to the trees.All the efforts we had made to liberate ourselves had only tended todraw more tightly the thongs; while we were left to contemplate thedreadful fate to which we were doomed as soon as the savages hadrecovered from the fumes of the spirits they had swallowed. All sortsof horrible ideas passed through my mind. Should a pack of wolves cometo the camp, they might, helpless as we were, tear us to pieces, as wellas the unconscious Indians. It would be a worse fate than any thesavages might inflict upon us. Scarcely had the idea entered my brain,than the well-known howls and yelps of the animals I dreaded reached myears. Louder and louder they grew. They were approaching the camp. Ina few minutes they would be upon us. It was no fancy of my brain, formy companions heard them also. Darkness prevented us from seeing eachother's countenances; but I could distinguish Dick, who was nearest me,again making efforts to free himself, and he could not help crying outin desperation when he found himself foiled as before. The wolves wereclose upon us, when presently we heard the tramp of a horse's feet, andone of our own animals, which either Armitage or Jack had been riding,and from whose back the Indians had neglected to remove the saddledashed by, closely pursued by a pack of large wolves, who intent on thechase did not regard us. I saw the head of an Indian lifted up for amoment, awakened to partial consciousness by the yelping of the wolvesand the tramp of the horse; but perhaps the savage fancied he wasdreaming, for the next moment his head again sank to the ground. Wewere preserved for the moment, but what would happen should the wolvessucceed in pulling down and devouring the horse? They would, to acertainty, return and attack us, as we had feared; or, even if they didnot, the Indians would be recovering from their debauch. I could onlyhope that they had not consumed all the liquor, and that the first toawaken would take another pull at the bottles. In spite of our fearfulposition, a drowsiness began to steal over me, produced perhaps byexhaustion. I even now do not like to think of those dreadful hours,when my mind dwelt on the various tortures the savages were wont toinflict on their helpless prisoners. I fully expected that arrows wouldbe shot at my limbs while all vital parts were avoided; to have my fleshburnt with hot irons; to be scalped; to suffer the most lingering andpainful of deaths. In vain I tried to banish such thoughts, and toencourage the stupor stealing over me. At length I had almostsucceeded, though I was not really asleep, when I heard a voice whisperin my ear, "Do not move or speak when you find the thongs cut."
The next instant I was free. The darkness prevented me seeing clearlywhat was happening to my companions, but I could distinguish a figurestealing along the ground, and appearing behind each of them.
"Now friends! you have your choice, either to cut the throats of theRedskins as they lie, or to catch the horses and put a wide spacebetween them and yourselves before daybreak," said a voice which Irecognised as that of old Folkard--"don't trust those villains, they maynot be as fast asleep as you fancy. If they hear you moving they may beon their feet again before you have had time to pass your knives acrosstheir throats."
"Savages as they are, I would not for one moment dream of killing them,whatever they intended to do to us," said Jack.
Armitage and Story agreed with him, as did I. We therefore at onceresolved to steal off as soon as we had recovered our rifles, the onlyweapons of which we had been deprived; and though they were close towhere our captors were sleeping, they might easily be reached. Our planwas then to try and get hold of our horses, and when they were securedwe might recover the remainder of our property and deprive the Indiansof their arms. We should thus teach them a lesson of mercy; for whenthey recovered their senses they could not fail to see how completelythey had been in our power, and that we might have put the whole of themto death had we been so disposed.
The old trapper volunteered to manage the most dangerous part of theundertaking, that of recovering our rifles. Telling us to remain wherewe were, apparently still bound to the trees, he crept forward on handsand knees, disappearing in the surrounding gloom. Not a sound did wehear until he came back, carrying in either hand a rifle, which heplaced at our feet. He then made a second trip, which was as successfulas the first; but the Indians' spears and several of our spare rifleshad still to be obtained. He went very cautiously to work, for he wasevidently not at all confident that one of the Indians might not awake.I would gladly have assisted him, had he not urged us to remain quiet.I felt greatly relieved when he at length returned with the last rifles.
"But we want our saddles!" whispered Dick.
I told Folkard where to find them.
"You shall have them," he answered, and again set off. I much fearedthat he might be discovered, as he would have to go into the campitself, and the slightest sound might awaken our enemies.
We waited and waited: again I felt a strong inclination to steal forwardand assist him. Just as I was about to do so, he reappeared bringingtwo saddles and bridles.
Still it was of consequence, if we could manage it, to possess ourselvesof the Indians' bows and spears. I again offered to accompany thetrapper. He thought a moment.
"It may be done," he said, "if you step cautiously, for they are moresoundly asleep than I had supposed; but, if any of them should awake,you must be prepared to knock them on the head--our own safety willdemand it."
I agreed to this, hoping that the contingency might not arrive. We setout and soon reached the camp. So sound asleep did they appear, that Ibelieve even had we trodden on them, they could not have been aroused.They lay where they had fallen in their drunken fits, in every varietyof attitude. We each possessed ourselves of two tomahawks for ourdefence, and all the bows we could find; and, carrying them under ourarms, returned to our companions. Folkard immediately cut the stringsand broke off the ends of the bows. We had thus far been moresuccessful than we had anticipated.
We now, having recovered our weapons and two saddles,--for the Indianshad left the others on the backs of the horses,--glided behind the treesto which we had been bound, and stole off, cautiously following thefootsteps of old Folkard, who led the way.
"I left my horse down in the hollow yonder," said the trapper; "we willget him first, and then I'll try and help catch yours; they are not faroff I suspect. It will be daylight soon, and we have no time to lose."
Several more minutes were spent before we reached the spot where oldFolkard's horse was securely tethered. He having mounted, we set out insearch of our own steeds.
"It is just possible that the Indians may have left one of their numberto watch their horses as well as ours, and if so, it will be necessaryto either capture or kill the man," said Dick.
Unwilling as we were to put to death any of our savage enemies, even inour own defence, we saw the necessity of doing as Dick proposed.
Greatly to our satisfaction, as we approached a glade, the whinny of ahorse was heard, and Armitage's favourite steed came trotting up to him.We immediately put on its saddle and bridle. Pierre's and mine werestill wanting. His had probably been torn to pieces by the wolves, butwe still had a chance of getting mine. I was almost in despair, when tomy joy it came up, and I was quickly on its back. Pierre was veryunhappy at delaying us.
At length old Folkard observed--
"Jump up behind me, we'll soon catch a horse for you; the Indians had alot of animals with them, and we'll take one of theirs if we can't findyours."
By this time morning had dawned, and we had no longer any fear ofencountering our enemies. We rode on to where old Folkard told us heexpected to find the horses.
Surmounting a slight elevation, we soon caught sight of a score ofanimals, evidently those of the Indians. To catch them was no easymatter, for just at the moment we appeared they seemed to be seized by asudden panic, and began prancing and rearing in the strangest fashion.We dashed forward, and, as they saw us coming, off they started acrossthe prairie at a rat
e which would have rendered pursuit utterlyhopeless.
We had now to settle what course to pursue. Should we return to thecamp and take possession of our property, or put as many miles as wecould between ourselves and the Indians?
On calculating, however, the quantity of liquor among our stores, wearrived at the conclusion that there was enough to keep the Indiansdrunk for another day or two, and that we should probably find them ashelpless as before. We accordingly kept our rifles ready for instantservice, and rode towards our camp. On our way we found our mules,which according to their usual custom had not mixed with the horses.Pierre mounted one of them, and led the rest. The loud snores andperfect silence around where the Indians lay showed us that they had notrecovered from their debauch. While two of our party stood guard, readyto deal with any who might come to their senses, the rest of us loadedthe mules with our goods, including two remaining bottles of spirits.
Folkard proposed leaving these to prevent the enemy from pursuing us."There is no fear of their doing that, for they have neither horses norarms," observed Dick. "They may consider themselves fortunate inescaping with their lives." We could scarcely help laughing at thethought of their astonishment when, on coming to themselves, they shouldfind how completely the tables had been turned: we hoped they would dulyappreciate the mercy shown to them. We now rode off, thankful for thehappy termination of our adventure.
We found that the old trapper had been very successful and wished toturn his steps eastward.
"I should be glad of your company, friends," he said, "in the firstplace; and in the second I don't think it would be safe for you toremain in this region, as the rest of the tribe may consider themselvesinsulted, and, ungrateful for the mercy shown their people, mayendeavour to cut you off. When the Redskins have made up their minds todo a thing, they'll do it if they can, however long they may have towait."
We all agreed that, although not frightened by the Indians, we had hadenough of fighting and hunting for the present. We accordingly made upour minds to accompany old Folkard. We felt that, in gratitude to himfor having preserved our lives, we were bound to do as he wished.
Having reached the spot where he had left his mules with his traps andpeltries, we turned our horses' heads eastward. As we rode along hetold us that he had come upon our trail, and that soon afterwards he hadfallen in with one which he knew must be made by an Indian war-party,and feeling sure that they intended us mischief he had followed them up.He had scarcely expected, however, to find us still alive; but havingstolen up to the camp, he saw the state to which our liquor hadfortunately reduced our captors, and had at once formed the plan forliberating us so happily carried out. One of Dick's first questions wasabout Charley. The old trapper replied that he had failed to hear ofhim; but he still held out hopes that our friend might have escaped, andthat some well-disposed Indians might have spared his life, and takencare of him, hoping to induce him to join their tribe, according to a byno means unusual custom among them.
This idea somewhat cheered up the worthy lieutenant's spirits, and madehim unwilling to return eastward; still, as he could not remain byhimself, he agreed to accompany us. The journey appeared very long.For the first few days we pushed forward to get beyond the reach of theIndians, in case they should fall in with any of their tribe and ventureto pursue us. After this we were compelled, for the sake of our horses,to make more easy stages. We had also to halt for the purpose ofproviding ourselves with meat; but as we shot only for the pot, thatcaused us no great delay.
At last we reached Saint Louis, where we spent several months enjoyingthe hospitality of numerous friends to whom we had letters ofintroduction. For a time we were looked upon as heroes on a small scaleby society; but probably the hunters and trappers who frequent that citywould have considered our adventures as every-day occurrences andscarcely worth talking about.
Old Folkard, having disposed of his peltries, and obtained new traps anda fresh outfit, started westward in the course of a fortnight, declaringthat he could not breathe among the bricks and mortar. He promised thathe would not fail to look out for Charley, for whose recovery, however,even Dick, by this time, had begun to despair. We were beginning to geta little tired of civilised ways and to sigh for the wild life of theprairie, when Armitage received a letter calling him to New York to meetan agent.
"I should like to continue the expedition I began with you," he said,"and I shall esteem it a favour if you will wait for my return; I shallnot be longer than I can help."
His request, made in so courteous a way, was not to be refused. We allconsented to stop. Week after week went by, and Armitage was stilldelayed; but as we had remained so long, we agreed to wait until hereturned, though our stay was double the length we intended. We wereemployed in adding to our outfit such articles as, from our experience,we considered useful. At length Armitage rejoined us, and we were oncemore _en route_. From the way his Indians had behaved when it came to apinch, he had resolved to take no more. Besides Pierre, who wasaccompanied by another Canadian, we had a Yankee trapper yclept "LongSam," who, according to his own showing, was likely to prove of far morevalue than half-a-dozen Indians. He was ready for anything--to hunt onhorseback, to shoot on foot, or to trap beavers. We had been travellingon some time when Armitage began to talk of Tillydrone, and suggestedthat, as it was not far out of our way, it would be but courteous to paya visit there and inquire after the family who had treated us sohospitably. He said not a word, however, about Miss Hargrave, nor fromthe tone of his voice would anyone have suspected that he was thinkingof her.
When Long Sam heard us mention the place, he exclaimed--
"Why, that's wha'r Praeger used to live, and it was burnt with mightynear the whole of the property when the forest caught fire last fall,though he and his family escaped. I heard say that they were going tomove westward, and they must be on their journey by this time, I guess."
Armitage questioned and cross-questioned his informant, and seemedperfectly satisfied with his statement. After this he expressed nofurther wish to visit Tillydrone.
We had been travelling on for more than a month, when we once more foundourselves among the wild and grand scenery in the neighbourhood of theRocky Mountains. We encamped not far from a spot we had beforeoccupied, where we knew an abundance of game was to be found. This timewe had determined that nothing should turn us back until the westerncoast was reached. We were now enabled to detect the trails of animalsas well as of men, an art indeed in which Pierre and Sam were equal tothe Indians themselves. As we had camped pretty early, we started indifferent directions, hoping to bring in a good supply of meat, of whichour consumption was considerable, Long Sam declaring when really hungry,that he could eat half a buffalo at a sitting--I wonder he didn't say awhole one. We had espied some big-horns on the rocky heights in thedistance, and were making our way towards them, when Sam exclaimed--
"A white man has passed this way, though those are the marks ofmoccasins, but no Indian treads in that fashion."
I agreed with him, and soon afterwards we came upon a pool out of whicha stream ran to the eastward. Sam was not long before he ferreted outseveral beaver-traps, and, examining one of them, pronounced it of thebest make, and belonging to a white trapper. Of course we allowed it toremain unchanged. We thought of old Folkard, but scarcely expected tofall in with him again. We were making our way through a wood, along aridge with a valley below us, when, looking through a gap in the trees,I caught sight of two persons, the one seated, supporting the head ofanother, who was stretched on the ground on his knees. Though I was toofar off to distinguish their features, I saw by the dress of one that hewas a trapper, but could not make out the other. On coming nearer,however, I recognised old Folkard; but who was the other? His cheekswere hollow, his countenance haggard, and, though sunburnt, showed noneof the hue of health. A second glance, however, convinced me that hewas Charley Fielding. The old hunter was engaged in giving him somefood, treating him as he
would a helpless child. They both recognisedme, and Charley's eye brightened as he stretched out his hand to welcomeme while I knelt by his side.
"Where have you been? How did you come here?" I asked eagerly.
"Don't trouble him with questions," said the old trapper; "he'll answeryou better when he's had some broth. I found him not long since prettywell at his last gasp. I guess he has got away from some Redskins. Ialways said he was carried off by them. If I am right they are notlikely to be far away. We must be on the look-out not to be caught bythem."
Charley, though unable to speak, showed by the expression of hiscountenance that the old trapper had truly conjectured what hadhappened.
We naturally, forgetting all about the big-horns, thought only of how wecould best convey Charley to the camp. As we had come over someexcessively rough ground, it would be no easy matter to get him there.
"Then go back to your friends, and get them to move camp up here," saidthe trapper; "by keeping along the lower ground, they can be herequickly, and it's a more secure spot, I guess, than where they are."
I asked Long Sam, who now came up, to go back with a message to ourfriends, as I was unwilling to leave Charley. This he agreed to do, andFolkard was glad to have me remain. The food quickly revived Charley,when Folkard went off to fetch some water from a neighbouring spring.We then together carried him to the trapper's camp, which was not manypaces off, though so securely hidden that even an Indian's eye couldscarcely have detected it.
This done, I looked out anxiously for the arrival of our friends. Theshades of evening were already extending far away over the lower ground.
"They'll surely come!" I said to myself. Presently I caught sight ofour party, and shouted to them to come on.
Poor Dick burst into tears when he saw Charley, partly from joy athaving found him, and partly from pity at his condition.
It was some time before Charley could speak. The first use he made ofhis returning strength, was to tell us that he had been captured byIndians, and kept a prisoner ever since,--exactly as old Folkard hadsupposed; that he was not as badly treated as he expected, but sostrictly watched, that in spite of all the attempts he had made, hecould not effect his escape until two days before, when he found that awar-party was about to set off to attack an emigrant train comingwestward, of which they had just gained tidings. While the braves wereperforming their war-dance to the admiration of the squaws, he hadmanaged to slip out of camp unperceived, his intention being to warn thewhite men of their danger. The train had been encamped some days, andit was not known how soon they would move forward. He had hopedtherefore to be in time, as the Indians would not venture to attack themwhile they remained stationary.
On hearing this we were all eager to set out to the rescue of the whitepeople. Armitage especially was unusually excited, but to move at thattime of night, with our horses already tired, the country also being ofa somewhat rough description, was scarcely possible. Old Folkard, aswell as Pierre and Long Sam, was of opinion that we should gain time bywaiting, as we might otherwise lose our way, or lame our animals overthe rocky tract we should have to pass. We arranged therefore to waitfor daylight, and it was settled that the Canadian should remain withthe old trapper to assist him in taking care of Charley, and lookingafter our baggage mules and spare horses. The greater part of the nightwas spent in cleaning our rifles and pistols, as we expected to have usefor them should we find that the emigrant train had moved on, and thatthe Indians had kept up their intention of attacking it. We breakfastedbefore dawn so that we might ride if necessary several hours withoutfood, and might be some distance on our way before the first streaks ofthe coming day should appear in the sky.
Pierre and Long Sam, after a consultation, undertook to guide us, sothat we might fall in with the usual track followed by emigrants, ashort distance only to the northward of the place where we wereencamped. We felt somewhat anxious about leaving Charley in his presentstate, with so slender a guard.
"Do not trouble yourselves about that," observed the old trapper. "I'llkeep a good look-out, and no Redskins are likely to come this way."
As we rode on and daylight increased, we looked out eagerly for anysmoke which might indicate a camp fire, but not the slightest wreathdimmed the clear sky. Pierre and Long Sam both agreed that we were notfar from the high road, and that we must soon come upon the track of thetrain if it had passed. Not a quarter-of-an-hour after this, we saw--not a fire burning--but the remains of several, and all the signs of atrain having halted on the spot. We hastily rode over the ground, whenArmitage, suddenly leaping from his horse, picked up a small objectwhich he intently examined. It was a lady's glove, such as the usualtravellers by emigrant trains are not wont to wear. He placed it in hispocket.
"On, friends, on!" he cried; "if Charley's information is correct wehave not a moment to lose. Already the work of plunder and murder mayhave begun."
We needed no further incitement to make us urge on our steeds. Armitageand Long Sam, who were the best mounted of our party, leading, thelatter being our guide. The country was wooded so that we could not seefar ahead. Suddenly our guide turned to the left.
"We will take a short cut for the waggons. The road makes a bend here,"he observed. "Maybe we shall find ourselves in front of the train. NoRedskins will venture to attack it when they see us."
No sounds had hitherto reached our ears, but presently a shot was heardfrom a short distance off, then another and another.
"On, on!" cried Armitage, and in a few minutes, through an opening inthe forest, we caught sight of a large band of Indians rapidlydescending the hill, while nearer to us there came the leading waggon ofan emigrant train, the drivers of which were endeavouring to turn backtheir cattle as probably those following were attempting to do.
From the shrieks and cries which arose, it seemed too likely that theRedskins had already attacked the travellers, and we knew well whatquick work they would make of it should they have gained any advantage;so, digging spurs into our horses' flanks, we passed round the head ofthe train, and uttering a loud cheer as we did so to encourage theemigrants, we rode full tilt at the savages.