CHAPTER FOURTEEN.
A SUDDEN ALARM--WHITE DOG NEARLY ROASTED--CONTINUE OUR MARCH--MY YOUNGFRIENDS GOG AND MAGOG--DISAPPEARANCE OF SHORT AND OBED--I DESCEND TOSEARCH FOR THEM--A MAGNIFICENT ICE CAVERN--CROSS A FROZEN LAKE--INDIANSAHEAD--FRIENDS--A SCENE IN THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS--CAMP, AND FORTIFYOURSELVES--APPROACH OF FLINTHEADS--DESPERATE CONFLICT--AN AVALANCHECOMES THUNDERING DOWN ON US.
I was describing how I was fast asleep in our first night's encampmenton our winter's journey across the Rocky mountains, when I was awoke bythe most terrific cries, whence proceeding I could not tell. I thoughta whole host of the Flintheads were upon us, and, seizing my rifle,sprang to my feet. When I was really awake, however, I found that thesounds came from under the platform, and a large hole near me soonshowed what had happened. I had left our friendly old chief,Wabassem-Mung, or the White dog, fast asleep there. He had selected itfrom being the warmest place and nearest the fire. The consequence wasthat the snow had there melted more rapidly, and a deep chasm of sevenor eight feet having been formed, he had glided into it, and only awokewhen he found the hot ashes coming showering down on his head andburning the tip of his long nose. For once, in his astonishment andfright, he forgot his dignity, and shrieked out as heartily as anypaleface. Laban and I and Short, who were nearest, stooping down, soondragged him out of his uncomfortable position, and except that his nosewas a little burned, and his feathers were singed, and his cloak was ahue or two darker, he was not much the worse for his adventure. He tookit very good-naturedly, and seemed somewhat ashamed of having expressedhis terror in the noisy way he had done.
Even before dawn we were on foot, and, having taken our morning meal,harnessed the horses and began our march. Our great object was to getto a certain elevation, to which we knew the Indians of the plain couldnever attempt to mount, even for the sake of glutting their revenge onus. We hoped also, should they attempt to follow us, to be better ableto defend ourselves in the mountain passes than, from the smallness ofour numbers, we could in the more open ground. In the hurry ofdescribing more stirring events, I forgot to mention my two young bears.I did not like to desert them, as I might not have an opportunity ofcapturing any others.
Laban at first objected to my dragging them along with me; but at lengthhe consented, observing, "Well, you know, Dick, if we get hungry, we'lleat 'em."
Of course I could not but consent to this arrangement. Although thefull-grown grizzly bear is the most ferocious of the ursine race, theselittle creatures in a few hours became comparatively tame and contentedwith their lot. They trotted alongside of me very willingly, and atnight lay coiled up together like a ball of wool, to keep each otherwarm. I gave them a small piece of fat and a little meal porridge, andthat was all they seemed to want, besides sucking their paws, which theydid as babies do their fists when they are hungry. Poor little things!they seemed to know that they had nobody else but me to look to as theirfriend. My friends, the Raggets and their companions, were very kindpeople, but they had a decidedly practical turn, and would have eaten mypets forthwith if I would have let them. I called one Gog and the otherMagog, names about which the honest backwoodsmen, who had never heardeven of Guildhall, knew nothing.
In appearance there was very little difference between them, but therewas a considerable amount in their characters. Gog became much soonertame, and was of a more affectionate, gentle, and peaceable disposition.Magog would sit and growl over any thing given him to play with, andrun off with it away from his brother, while Gog would frisk about andseem to take pleasure in getting the other to join in his sports. Ofcourse Gog became the favourite with all hands, and even the childrenwere not afraid of playing with him, whereas Magog would snap at them,and very often tumbled them over and hurt them.
"I say, Dick," said Obed to me, "if we want food, we'll eat that Magogof yours up first."
That is what Magog got for his surliness and ill-temper.
We continued to push on over the mountain-range. It was not all ascent.Sometimes we came to a level on a wide open space where there was notmuch snow, and then we got on rapidly. Our only passage through onepart of the route was up the bed of a torrent frozen hard and coveredwith snow. It was very heavy work, but Short assured us that it wouldnot last long, so we pushed on.
Obed, Short, and I, with others, were clearing the way with our spades,when suddenly, without the slightest warning, the two first, who wereahead of me, went right through the ice and disappeared. Horror almostovercame me, for I knew that the torrent would have the power ofsweeping them down in an instant far out of our sight. Obed was mygreatest friend. Short's loss to all the party was irreparable. Thethree other men with me and I shouted to our friends, several of whomhad long poles to assist their progress, to hasten to our aid.Fastening four of these together, two and two, I secured a rope round mybody, which the others held, and then worked myself forward till I wasover the hole. Another rope was made fast to the poles; by this Idescended. I was surprised to find the chasm so deep, for I thoughtthat I should see the water rushing down a little below the surface.Instead of that, there was below the hole a hard, very nearly smooth,floor, I lowered myself gently, and found it perfectly firm and strong;but, alas! neither Obed nor Short were to be seen.
Under other circumstances I should have been delighted with theappearance of the place in which I found myself. It was like amagnificent cavern of the purest white marble, ornamented with glassstalactites of the most brilliant rainbow hues. I should call it rathera gallery, because it extended up and down to an indefinite distance.No work of art could be more light or graceful.
But my thoughts were with my friends, and all the beauty whichsurrounded me seemed only to mock my anxiety for their fate. I heardthose above, Laban Ragget and his sons, asking eagerly if I had foundthem, and I had to answer mournfully, "No." Still I saw that they couldnot have gone through the ice into the stream itself, for thateverywhere appeared unbroken. Then it struck me that, as the floor wasan inclined plane, they had probably slipped down over the smoothsurface without meeting anything to stop them. This was a solution ofthe problem of the cause of their disappearance, but it did not relievemy anxiety as to their fate. I sung out to my friends above to lengthenthe rope as far as they could, for I had no inclination to proceedwithout it, and slid down to as great a distance as its length wouldallow me to move. I shouted and shouted, but there was no answer. Ibegan truly to despair. "Poor fellows, they must be gone," I thought."It will be a sad report I must take to Laban."
I began to ascend to get under the hole again. I found that I couldeasily crawl up the incline on hands and knees. I turned to rest for aninstant, and thought that I would give one shout more. There was aroaring, rumbling noise of the water underneath, which made it necessaryto sing out very sharply to be heard at any distance. I thereforeshrieked out this time at the very top of my voice.
A few instants passed while the echoes died away, and then a faint crycame up from far, far down the long ice gallery. It was repeated.There could be no doubt that it was from my friends. I waited toconsider whether I should return and get others to come down with moreropes, so that should Short and Obed have fallen into an ice-pit, wemight help them out; or whether it was best to wait and see if they wereworking their own way up, as I found from experience they might be ableto do. It was while thus waiting for them that I was able to admire thebeauty of the scene. The floor was dark blue, the sides were white, andthe ceiling was of every variety of green and red and yellow, and insome places so transparent that it seemed surprising that any person,much less a horse or sleigh, could have passed over it without breakingthrough; then there were in the distance arches and columns, and wholebuildings and statues, of every grotesque form imaginable, at least somy imagination carved out the excrescences and masses of ice I saw piledup in a long vista before me. I did not stay long without shoutingagain, and once more the voices of my friends assured me that they weredrawing near. My heart was now much lighter, an
d at length I caughtsight of their heads as they crawled up like two four-footed creaturesin the distance. I was truly glad when they got up to me; they hadbeen, they owned, not slightly alarmed, and were, they showed, verytired and out of breath.
On breaking through the ice, the impetus they got sent them sliding downthe sloping floor at so great a rate that they could not stopthemselves. On, on they went, not knowing when their journey would end;but dreading that it might be into some deep hole, or perhaps thetorrent itself. They were well pleased, therefore, when they werebrought up suddenly against a mass of rock which rose out of the bed ofthe stream; and doubly grateful were they when, on looking beyond it,they saw that on the other side there was a deep fall, through which thewater itself was forcing its way.
We were all soon dragged up again to the surface, and though I describedthe magnificence of the icy gallery, no one seemed inclined to pay it avisit. We had now to drag our sleighs up a steep bank, and to proceedwith the greatest caution, our progress being very slow. At last weonce more got on level ground, and soon reached a long narrow lake, outof which the torrent descended. This accounted for there being waterunder the ice. Many of the torrents we came to were frozen completelythrough.
It may seem in theory very pleasant work walking in snow-shoes over thesmooth surface of the snow, often high up among the boughs of trees, andlevel with the roofs of cottages; but when a person is not accustomed tothe proceeding, it becomes painful in the extreme.
Snow-shoes are frames of light wood from four to six feet long, pointedat both ends like a boat. The intermediate space is filled up withnetwork. They are secured to the feet by leathern thongs, and there isa hole in which the heel works. From their shape and size they presenta very wide surface to the snow, and prevent the walker from sinking in.
Great care is required in fastening the thongs, which must be tight; butif they are too tight, when they get wet, as they frequently do, andshrink, they cut into the ankles and cause serious injury. Often thefeet are so benumbed with the cold that, at the time, no pain is felt,and it is only when the sufferer comes to take off his shoes, that hefinds the thongs have disappeared in a mass of swelling. We had nofears as to the ice on the lake bearing us, so we merrily slid on to it,and proceeded faster than we had done since we left the camp. Thehorses especially seemed to enjoy the ease, with which they dragged onthe loads which had before seemed so heavy, while the rest of us, takingoff our snowshoes, glided over the smooth surface as rapidly as theydid. Fortunately, but little snow had fallen in this region, and thewind had blown it off the ice. This was the first, and indeed only,advantage we gained by travelling before the frost broke up. Had we notbegun our journey as we were now doing, we should have had to waitseveral weeks longer, till the snows had melted from the mountain-tops,and the streams had subsided to their usual level. Still we could notconceal from ourselves that we had many dangers to encounter, evenshould we not be pursued by the red-skins.
I was generally in the van with Obed and Short and my two bears. I didnot venture to let the Masters Bruin go loose, but yoked them together,and had a rope fastened to them besides. Thus united they waddled on;not lovingly, for very often they grumbled and growled, and seemed to bemaking far from pleasant remarks to each other. They kept on all fours,it must be understood. Bears only stand on their hind legs when theyhave learned to dance, or are going to eat a man, or at all events arestanding at bay. On reaching the end of the lake we found that aconsiderable portion of the day had been spent, but still we had somedistance to go before we could reach the spot proposed for ourcamping-ground. However, it was thought advisable to push on. Isuggested to Short that it might have been better to camp on the shoreof the lake.
"So it would, Dick, if we hadn't to guard against these cunningred-skins. But old White Dog has heard, and I believe that he is right,that there is another path over the mountains, which leads to the veryspot near where we propose camping; at least a little to this side ofit. Now, if our enemies know of this, and it's not likely they'll beignorant, and they make chase after us, some of the cunning varmintswill take that path to cut us off, depend on't. We haven't told thewomen of it, nor the men generally, because there's no use making themanxious till the time comes; and then there's no fear but that they'llall behave as they ought."
I could not but admire the calm self-possession of my friends, who, inexpectation of so fearful an event, could show so little concern, and atthe same time placed such implicit confidence in the nerve courage oftheir companions. I must own that I felt very anxious, and carefullyexamined the lock of my rifle, and assured myself that I had properlyloaded it. Soon after this we entered a broad defile with high brokenrocks on either side of us, beyond which towered up to the sky the whitemasses of mountain-tops. The defile as we advanced gradually narrowed,till I found that we were approaching a narrow gorge with cliffs risingon each side almost perpendicularly above it. Just then I thought thatI saw something moving among the rocks before us. I asked short. Hisquick eye had detected the movement.
"Indjens!" he exclaimed. "Oh! the treacherous varmints."
Scarcely had he uttered the word than from behind the rocks in our frontup sprang a numerous band of Indians in war-paint and feathers, utteringthe most terrific shrieks and cries, and dancing and leaping about inthe most extraordinary manner. Our rifles were in a moment in ourhands. I was on the point of firing at an Indian whom I had covered,when old White Dog rushed to the front, exclaiming what Shortinterpreted to mean, "Don't fire; they are friends, my people."
This was satisfactory information, for, however pleasant fighting may beto some people, in our case it would not bring either honour or plunder.The fact was that, posted as they were, they might, had they beenenemies, have picked us off, supposing they had rifles, without ourbeing able in any way to get at them, except by climbing up the rocks,when, of course, they would have picked us off in detail. After WhiteDog's followers had amused themselves sufficiently with dancing andshrieking, they came down from their position, and paid their respectsto their chief, who inquired how it was they happened to be where we hadfound them. They all seemed to be very eager to tell him, but heselected one as the spokesman, and told him to narrate what hadoccurred. It appeared that after their chief had left them they gotnotice that the Flintheads purposed to attack their lodges and destroythem. To avoid this result they had packed up their goods and fled fromthe spot, merely leaving some scouts to watch the proceedings of theirenemies. They had not to wait long before they observed a party ofwarriors approaching. This party seemed very much disappointed atfinding their lodges deserted. Having set fire to everything that wouldburn, they continued their route towards our camp, followed closely bythe scouts. When these saw them enter within the intrenchments, theyinstantly set off back to their companions. A council was then held,when it was agreed that it was their duty to set off to help theirchief, who might be in danger.
Old White Dog had, I found, left directions outside our camp, which theywould clearly understand, telling them to follow him. On reaching thecamp they found that we had deserted it, but before going on, they verynaturally took a glance round inside. There they found the unfortunateFlintheads whom we had left bound.
"I hope, Short," said I, "that they respected our intentions, and leftthem there unhurt."
"They left them there, you may be sure, Dick," answered Sam quietly."But you may be equally sure that they cut the throats of every mother'sson of them."
"Cruel, murderous wretches!" I exclaimed.
"It's their way of doing things," said Sam. "As they are taught intheir youth, so they act now they've grown up. If you had been taughtto scalp your enemies when you were a boy, you'd do the same withpleasure now, whenever you had a chance!"
I could not deny that this would too probably have been the case, andtherefore made no further remarks on the subject, only feeling thankfulthat I had been born in a Christian land, and brought up with Christianprincipl
es.
The meeting with these Indians caused another short delay, and they andtheir wives, and children, and dogs, falling into the rear of our party,we all proceeded together. The women and children, I ought to havesaid, had been hid away among the rocks, and were only produced at thelast moment, as we were moving on. We could not object to White Dog'stribe accompanying us, but as they came but scantily furnished withprovisions, we were under some considerable apprehension that they wouldcreate a famine in our camp.
A strong party of us, consisting of Short and Noggin, and some of theRaggets, and myself, with old White Dog and several of his tribe, nowpushed on to occupy the pass which led into the one through which wewere travelling. We soon reached it, and, climbing up the surroundingheights, looked around. As far as the eye could range, not a movingobstacle was visible; all was silent and solitary. We had purposelyconcealed ourselves in case an enemy should be approaching, and as Istood on that mountain height looking out into the distance overinterminable snow-covered ranges of rock, I was more sensible than I hadever before been of the sensation of solitude; never before had Iremarked silence so perfect. Truly it seemed as if Nature was asleep.So she was: it was the sleep of winter.
In England, where birds are constantly flying about, and often insectshumming, even at Christmas, we have no conception of the utter want ofall appearance of life in the mountain regions in which I was nowtravelling. We waited on the watch till the main body of our party cameup, and then, seeing no enemies, pushed on to our camping-ground. Imust say that I was very glad to get there without meeting with theFlintheads. I felt sure that as soon as they found out the fate oftheir friends, they would track us, and, if they could, not leave one ofour party alive. Probably Laban and others thought the same, but wiselykept their thoughts to themselves.
We fortified ourselves as usual, and kept a strict watch during thenight. The weather was much less cold than it had been; indeed, therewere evident signs of the coming of spring, and it became more than everevident that we must push on before the frozen-up torrents should againburst forth, and render many spots impassable. After a hurriedbreakfast, we were once more on our way; we marched in true militaryorder, with an advanced and a rear guard; the first carried spades, andacted as a pioneer corps. This morning I was in the rear guard, withObed and Short, and all the Indians with their old chief. We hadmarched about a mile, and had just entered one of the defiles I havespoken of, with lofty cliffs on each side, and the mountains rising, itseemed, sheer up above our heads for thousands of feet, when I saw theIndians prick up their ears; then they stopped and bent down to theground as if to listen. There was a great talking among them, and oldWhite Dog called to Short: and Short announced to us the unpleasantinformation that we were pursued by a large body of Flintheads. Theycould not have overtaken our party in a position more advantageous tous; for, from the narrowness of the pass, even should they be verysuperior in numbers, we could show as good a front as they could. Whileour main body moved on with the women and children and goods, I andabout a dozen young men remained with the Indians to defend the pass,and to drive back, if we could, our enemies.
"There's one thing we may look for," observed Sam Short; "they'll fightto the last gasp, rather than lose the chance of their revenge; onlydon't let any of us get into their hands alive, that's all; they'd tryour nerves in a way we should not like, depend on that."
Every man among us looked to his rifle, and felt that his hunting-knifewas ready to his hand in his belt. We advanced a little farther, andthen halted at a spot where it seemed impossible that the Indians couldscale the heights to get at us. We had not long to wait. Suddenlybefore us appeared a band of Indians just turning an angle of the pass.On they came at a rapid pace till the whole road, as far as the eyecould reach, seemed full of them. As soon as they perceived us, theyset up the most terrific yells, and rushed frantically forward. Wewaited for them steadily, but I feared, by the very force of theircharge, that our people would be overthrown and driven back.
"Now, lads," exclaimed Laban, as they came on, "be steady. Wait till Igive the word. Fire low. Don't let the bullets fly over their heads.Bring down the leading men. Now ready--Fire!"
All obeyed our brave leader, and several in the front ranks of the enemyfell. Yet it did not stop the rest, but rushing on with the fiercestshrieks, they threw themselves madly upon our party. The White Dog'sfollowers bore the brunt of the charge, and very gallantly did theybehave. Again and again the Flintheads were driven back, and again andagain they came on. They seemed resolved to conquer or die. There musthave been nearly a hundred warriors among them. The air was at timesdarkened with their arrows, besides which a number had rifles. Four orfive of our Indian allies had been killed, as had one of our people, andnumbers had been wounded. We kept up at them a hot fire all the time,and many of them fell. Still, in proportion to our numbers, we had lostmore men than they had. Once more the whole column rushed on together.I fully thought that we were lost, when, as I glanced my eye upward, Isaw what I fancied was the mountain-top bend forward. Yes, I was notmistaken! Down it came with a wild, rushing noise directly towards us,shaking the very ground on which we stood. The Indians saw it too, butit did not stop them, as with headlong speed they were rushing towardsus, about to make another onslaught. They and White Dog's people met,and the last I saw of them they were dashing their tomahawks into eachother's brains.
I shouted frantically to Laban and the rest to retreat. It was a mightyavalanche, a vast mass of snow and ice. As it descended it increased insize, gathering fresh speed. As one mast of a ship drags another in itsfall, so did one mountain-top seem to lay hold of the one next to it,and bring it downwards into the valley. Down, down came the mountainsof snow, thundering, roaring, rushing. My brain seemed to partake ofthe wild commotion. I cannot attempt to describe the effect. I wasleaping, running, springing back from the enemy, with every muscleexerted to the utmost, in the direction the women and baggage had gone.Laban and his sons were near me, I believed, but already dense showersof snow, or rather solid masses, the _avant-coureurs_ of the avalanche,were falling down on us and preventing me seeing anything many feet fromwhere I was. Unearthly shrieks and cries of terror and despair reachedmy ears; a mass of snow struck me, and brought me to the ground deprivedof consciousness.