CHAPTER XXV.
FAY.
"Th' spalpane manes ter kape it av he gits his hand on it," whisperedBarney. "It's murther he has in his oies."
Frank knew well enough that Barney was right, and he had no intention ofrelinquishing his hold on his rifle for a moment. He fell back a step,lifting the weapon in a suggestive manner, and Half Hand halted,scowling blackly and smiling craftily by turns.
"Hold up!" came sharply from the lips of the boy. "Keep your distance,or you will get damaged."
"Ha! White boy threaten Half Hand! Be careful! Half Hand good when himnot threatened; heap bad when him threatened. White boys two; Injuns biglot more. White boys make Injuns mad, then where um be?"
"I have no desire to make you mad, but this is my rifle, and I mean tokeep it."
"Half Hand want to look."
"You may look at a distance, but you can't lay a hand on it."
"White boy heap 'fraid. Give gun back pretty quick bimeby."
"I fancy it would be bimeby. No, you cannot take it, and that settlesit."
"Mebbe Half Hand trade with boy."
"I do not wish to trade."
"Mebbe Half Hand give um heap good trade."
"Possibly, but that makes no difference."
"White boy fool!" snarled the half-blood. "If um don't lemme take gun,Half Hand take it anyhow, and then white boy no git a thing for it."
This was quite enough to startle Frank, and he sharply declared:
"If you attempt to take this rifle, you will get a pill out of it inadvance! That is straight business, Mr. Half Hand."
"Hurro!" cried Barney, his fighting blood beginning to rise. "Av it'sfoight ye want, ye red nagurs, jist wade roight inter us! We'll give yeall th' foight ye want, begobs!"
The Blackfeet jabbered among themselves a minute, and it was plain thatthey were not all of one mind. Some seemed to be for attacking the boys,while others opposed it. Half Hand hotly urged them on.
"Fall back," said Frank, speaking softly to the Irish lad. "Be ready fora rush. If they come, give it to them. I will take Half Hand myself. Youtake the fellow with the red feather. If they kill us, we'll have thesatisfaction of getting two or three of them in advance."
The boy's voice was cool and steady, and his nerves seemed of iron. Heglanced over his shoulder in search of some place of shelter, but coulddiscover none near by, much to his disappointment.
Barney was also cool enough, although the hot blood was rushing swiftlythrough his veins. He was holding himself in check, in imitation of hisfriend and comrade.
In truth, the two lads were in a tight corner. It was plain that theIndian poachers were made up of rebellious Blackfeet, who could not bekept on the reservation, and their faces showed they were the very worstsort. Having been caught almost in the act of killing game within thepark, and believing the two lads had no friends near by, the duskyvillains might not hesitate at outright murder spurred on by their greedfor plunder, lust for blood, and a desire to keep the boys fromnotifying the soldiers of the presence of Indians on forbidden ground.
Frank fully understood their peril, and he felt that they would be luckyindeed if they escaped with their lives.
He blamed himself for running into the trap in such a blind manner, andstill he felt that he was not to blame. He had seen moving figures at adistance, and, as the Indians were keeping under cover, in order tocreep upon the buffalo, he had no more than caught a glimpse of them.They were dressed in clothes they had obtained by trade or plunder fromwhite men, and so, at a distance and under such circumstances, it wasnot remarkable that Frank had not noted they were savages.
In a few moments Half Hand seemed to bring the most of the Indians tohis way of thinking, and he again turned on the boys.
"Good white boys," he croaked, craftily. "Don't be 'fraid of Injuns.Injuns won't hurt um."
"We are not afraid of you," returned Frank; "but you want to keep yourdistance, or you will get hurt by us."
"Thot's roight, begorra!" cried Barney, fingering his Winchester. "It'sstoofed to th' muzzle, this ould shootin' iron is, wid grapeshot an'canister, an' av Oi leggo wid it, there won't be a red nagur av yez lefton his pins."
"Injuns want to talk with white boys," said the half-blood, edgingnearer, inch by inch. "Injuns want to hold powwow."
"We are not at all anxious to hold a powwow with you. Stand where youare!"
Up came Frank's rifle a bit.
It was plain that the red ruffians meant to make an assault, and themoment was at hand. They were handling their weapons in a way that toldhow eager some of them were to shed the blood of the boys.
Barney, in his characteristic, devil-may-care manner, began to hum, "MyFuneral's To-morrow." He seemed utterly unable to take mattersseriously, however great the danger.
A moment before the rush and encounter must have taken place, all werestartled to hear a merry, childish laugh, and a voice saying:
"I knowed I'd find tomebody tomewhere. I wants to tome down. Tate medown, please."
On the top of the bluff, forty feet above the heads of the Indians,stood a little girl, dressed in white. She had golden hair and blueeyes, and, on her lofty perch, she looked like a laughing fairy.
"Mother av Mowses!" gurgled Barney.
"A child!" exclaimed Frank, astonished. "Here!"
The Indians muttered and hesitated. Half Hand still urged them on, butit was plain that they believed there was a party of white persons nearat hand, and they feared to attack the boys. The urging of thehalf-blood was in vain, and he was forced to give it up.
Then he turned fiercely on the boys, snarling:
"Good thing for you your friends come! They no come, we kill you andtake your guns! Mebbe we see you 'gain some time bimeby."
Then the Indians turned and quickly scudded away, soon disappearing fromview amid some pines.
Frank drew a breath of relief.
"That was a close shave," he muttered.
"Begorra! It was thot," nodded Barney. "Av it hadn't been fer th'litthle girrul, we'd lost our scoolps Oi belave."
"The little girl!" exclaimed Frank. "She appeared like a good fairy,and----"
"Dat's my name. Mamma talls me Fairy Fay."
She was still standing on the bluff, and she had heard Frank's words.Now she held out her arms to him, crying:
"Tome tate me down. I wants to tome down."
"Get back from the edge, dear," Frank quickly called. "You may fall. Wewill come up to you as soon as possible."
"Tome wight away."
"Yes, we will come right away."
"I's tired playing all alone--an' I's hundry," said the sweet littlevoice. "I's awsul hundry. You dot somet'ing dood to eat?"
"You shall have something to eat very soon, if you will keep back fromthe edge, so you'll not fall down," assured Frank.
He then directed Barney to remain there and watch her, cautioning her tokeep back, while he found a way to reach the top of the bluff.
Frank hastened away, looking for some mode of getting there. In a shorttime, he found a place to ascend, and lost no time in doing so.
When he came panting to the top of the bluff, the little girl waswaiting, having seated herself contentedly on a stone, where she couldcall down to Barney.
Seeing Frank, she held out her arms, crying:
"I's awsul glad you tome! I'll be your Fairy now."
"You have been my good fairy to-day, little one," he earnestly said, ashe lifted her in his arms and kissed her cheek. "Without doubt you savedmy life."
"Mamma says I's pritty dood Fairy all the time."
"I haven't a doubt of it."
"But I's awsul hundry now. I touldn't find mamma, and I walked andwalked, and I falled down and tored my dress, and I dot tired and awsulhundry, and I cwyed some, and nen I 'membered mamma told me it wasn'tnice to cwy, and I walked again, and I heard somebody talkin', and Ilooked down and it was you."
She ended with a happy laugh, clasping her arms about his neck.
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br /> "Where is your mamma?"
"Oh, I don't know now," she answered, a little cloud coming to her face."I touldn't find her. You tate me to her."
"You do not live near here?"
"We live in New Yort."
"New York?"
"Yeth, thir. Dat's a dreat bid place wif lots and lots of houses."
"Then you must be traveling with your mamma?"
"I's trafeling wizout her now. We has had jes' the longest wides on thecars. And we stopped in lots of places, but we didn't find papa."
"Then your papa is not with you?"
"Papa goed away long time ago, and that made mamma cwy. I seed herweadin' a letter and cwyin' awsul hard, and papa didn't tome bat somemore. You know where to find my papa?"
"No, little one, I do not; but I will help you find your mother. Whatdid you say your name is?"
"Fay. Tometimes mamma talls me Fairy."
"What is all your name--the rest of it besides Fay?"
"Why, jes' Fairy. I's awsul hundry. Dot a tookie?"
Finding himself unable to learn her full name from her lips, Frankstarted for the foot of the bluff, bearing her in his arms.