CHAPTER XIV.
LOOKING ON.
Wharton Edwards was not long finding that for which he was seeking.While feeling his way among the trees, with all his senses on the alert,a point of light suddenly flashed out in the gloom. It was directlyahead, and he had but to penetrate a short distance farther, when hecame in sight of the camp-fire of the Shawanoes.
He approached with great care, and halted at what he deemed a safedistance to study the characteristic scene before him.
Careful counting, repeated several times, showed eleven Indian warriorsgathered together about a mass of burning wood, which was kindled in asmall open space. Upon a fallen tree were seated four of them, while therest were lolling on the ground in lazy attitudes. Two seemed to beexamining the locks of their guns, and nearly all were smoking.
There were no signs of any food, but the lusty youth felt so hungry thathe was sure they must have had something to eat before he came uponthem. Game was so abundant in the country that it was unreasonable tosuppose any one would go hungry unless he happened to be in a situationsimilar to that of the youth himself.
One fact gave Wharton a thrill of gratitude and hope; Larry was not withthe group of Indians, and, therefore, could not be a prisoner.
Young Edwards had been under the impression that there were about ascore of Shawanoes with which he and Larry Murphy had collided, butcounting those that had fallen by the way, there were less.
The absence of the youth from the camp could not be a guarantee of hisweal, for he might have been stricken down in the woods, but the signhad been so favorable that Wharton felt more hopeful than at any timesince their separation.
He was quick, however, to notice a significant fact: Blazing Arrow wasalso absent.
"I would give anything to know where he is and what he is doing,"thought the youth. "It may be that he is leaning against the tree andstill studying over the yarn that is to prevent the rest knowing Ioutran him, but it is more likely he is prowling through the woods afterLarry and me."
The answer to this conjecture came suddenly and startlingly. Wharton,not forgetting his caution, kept well back in the gloom, with his bodyscreened behind the trunk of a tree. He was attentively watching thegroup around the camp-fire, when something moved between him and thelight, partly eclipsing it.
A second look showed the form of the twelfth Shawanoe, walking silentlytoward the blaze; and, as he joined the others, and stood so thefirelight revealed his features, Wharton Edwards recognized him asBlazing Arrow.
"He has struck it," muttered the youth. "He has got the yarn in shape atlast. I wish I could hear it, and find what sort of a fancy he has."
The great runner was without any gun, and it was evident that he musthave wrenched his inventive powers to straighten out matters so as toretain his prestige among these warlike people. His position as a greatwarrior and the real leader of the party could not fail to help in thetest to which he was subjected.
The arrival of the dusky desperado caused a sensation. Every face wasturned, and those who were seated on the tree rose to greet him. Thesilence in the wood allowed Wharton to hear their gruff, jerkysentences, but since he did not understand a word of Shawanoe, his earswere of no service.
One of the warriors extended a rifle to Blazing Arrow, who waved it backuntil he, standing in the middle of the group, gave his account ofmatters.
Some years later the settlers learned the particulars of this amazingnarrative. The great runner said he allowed the youth to draw away fromhim for a time in order to put forth his best efforts. When this hadtaken them to the natural clearing, with which all were familiar, hestarted to run him down, and would have done so before the open spacewas half crossed but for the sudden appearance of five or six white mencoming from the other direction.
Of course the new comers were fully armed, but, nothing daunted, thevaliant Shawanoe assailed them. He brought down two, and would have hadthe others at his mercy had not a shot broken the lock of his gun. Hethen threw away the useless weapon, uttered a defiant whoop, and strodeback toward his own party, whither the whites did not dare follow him.
It was one of the listeners to this stupendous statement who told it tothe pioneers. When asked whether he and the others believed it, ashadowy smile lit up the dusky face, and he quaintly replied that theytried to do so.
Having rendered his account, Blazing Arrow and several of his comradesseated themselves on the fallen tree and engaged in an animated talk,which lasted for a quarter of an hour or more. The burden of it wasthat one of the whites was still near them, and must not be permitted tosteal along the trail in the direction of the block-house, for if hesucceeded in reaching that point he would be safe against anything theShawanoes could do.
The dusky prevaricator was cunning enough not to claim that he had slainWharton Edwards, for the youth, being alive, was liable to turn up in away that would throw discredit on his veracity.
The lad, who was looking on, could only conjecture the meaning of whatpassed before his eyes. When he saw a couple of warriors rise to theirfeet and come toward him, he supposed it was to make hunt for him andhis friends. He was made to realize, too, the delicately dangerousposition in which he stood.
When the figures plainly outlined against the illumination of thecamp-fire started, he fervently wished himself elsewhere. He dared notstir, for, as if fate were dallying with him, a lot of wood, thrown onthe blaze within a few minutes before, threw a circle of light to thebase of the tree from behind which he was cautiously peering. Had hestarted to withdraw, the two Shawanoes would have been upon him in atwinkling. He could only wait where he was, and hope they might pass bywithout detecting his presence.
He hardly breathed as he heard the rustling of their moccasins on theleaves, and pressed his upright figure against the bark as though hewould force himself into the very structure of the tree itself.
Fortunately the suspense quickly passed. If the couple were hunting forhim and his companion, they did not expect to find either so nearheadquarters, and speedily vanished in the gloom beyond, stepping sosoftly that their footfalls became inaudible.
This incident gave young Edwards a good scare. He felt that he had runan unnecessary risk, and wasted time in staying so long after learningthat Larry was not with the main party of Indians. More of these werelikely to leave the camp, and the danger of his position must increase.
Without delay, therefore, he began his retrograde movement. This waseasy, and he soon placed himself where he could feel comparativelysafe.
His curiosity led him to pick his way back to the torrent that had beenthe scene of so many moving incidents of the afternoon. He was somewhatconfused as to the points of the compass, but the faint roar was hisguide, and with little trouble he placed himself quite near the stream,which coursed between the rocks with such impetuosity.
The youth was too prudent to advance into the moonlight, where theprowlers were liable to see him, and so it happened that he approachedthe rocks at a point that was new to him. To this fact was due asurprise. He was just in time to see one Indian following the otheracross the foot-bridge made by the prostrate tree.
"I never suspected that was there," he said to himself when hecomprehended its meaning; "I thought there was no means by which Larrycould make his way back to the trail without swimming below the falls orfording some place farther up. I wonder whether he knows about that?"
The action of the Indians gave Wharton a suspicion of the truth. Theyhad crossed the torrent with the intention of hiding somewhere along thepath leading to the block-house, so as to cut off the flight of one orboth of the boys in that direction. This, seemingly, was an easy thingto do, provided the fugitives were unsuspicious of what was going on.
Young Edwards saw no way of breaking through the maze of perplexity thathad closed around him. He had done his utmost without learning where hisfriend was. More than that, although he was hopeful, he could feel nocertainty that he was really alive.
The occasion justifi
ed another appeal to the peculiar dove signal, andhe now made it.