CHAPTER X.
TURNING OUT A PANTHER.
"I have been in more than one fight with the Indians," continued Adam,"and have heard their yells more times than I can remember; but I neverheard any that equaled those which rung in my ears when the savages sawus coming out of the fort. At the moment the gate opened they werepreparing for a second assault, and we must have taken them by surprise,for they scattered right and left before us like a flock of turkeys. Butthey did not forget the weapons they held in their hands, and, as wedashed through their lines, the bullets and arrows whistled about ourears thicker than ever. Before we had gone fifty yards from the gate, Isaw riderless horses on all sides of me.
"Our party did not keep together long. Pursuit was commenced on theinstant, and presently Indians, soldiers, and trappers were mixed up inthe greatest confusion, so that I could scarcely distinguish a friendfrom a foe. Picture to yourself the scene: A desperate hand-to-handcontest among mounted men--the horses thundering along at the top oftheir speed, their riders too intent upon fighting to know or care wherethey were going; sabers, tomahawks, and spears flashing in the air, andemitting sparks of fire as they clashed together; rifles and revolverscracking right and left, their reports sounding faintly above the noiseof the horses' hoofs, and the whoops and yells of the combatants;--ifyou can imagine such a scene, you can have a faint idea of the runningfight we carried on with those savages while we were going through thevalley. As for myself, I confess that I took but little part in it, Iwas so badly frightened. I emptied both my revolvers before we werefairly out of the gate, and then clung to the horn of my saddle, andgazed about me in a sort of stupid bewilderment, while my horse gallopedalong with the rest. I seemed to be in a sort of trance; and when Icame to myself I found that I had become separated from my father andCaptain Porter, and that they were nowhere to be seen. I was almostalone. My horse, frightened by the noise and confusion, had left theothers, and was going toward the mountains at a rate of speed I hadnever supposed him capable of. I saw that he was running away with me,but I did not care for that. If he would only take me out of reach ofthe Indians, and carry me to the willows, where I could conceal myselfuntil daylight, he might run and welcome. I did not try to stop him, butsomebody else did. I heard the report of a rifle close behind me, myhorse fell dead in his tracks, and I went rolling along the ground likea ball from a bat. I was badly hurt, and stunned by the fall, but stillI retained my senses sufficiently to see that the enemy who had unhorsedme so suddenly was an Indian, and that he was approaching to finish thework he had begun. He came on at a gallop, holding in his hand a spearwhich was pointed straight at my breast. I gave myself up for lost; butwhen the spear was so close to me that I could have touched it, theIndian fell forward in his saddle (he was tied fast to it, so that hecould not fall to the ground), the spear dropped from his grasp, and hishorse carried him away, dead. Where the bullet that saved my life camefrom, I could not tell. It may have been a spent ball; or some friendmay have seen my danger, and discharged his rifle at the Indian; butthat was a matter I could not stop to inquire into. I jumped to my feet,and made the best of my way toward the willows, but had not gone farbefore I found that I had other enemies to contend with. I heard ashout, and saw a trapper running toward me. I stopped when I discoveredhim, for I thought he was one of those belonging to Captain Porter'sexpedition, and consequently a friend; but when he came within reach ofme I found out my mistake. He seized me by the collar, and greeted mewith:
"'Who are you, boy? What's your name?'
"'I am Adam Brent,' I replied, astonished at his tone and manner.
"'Then you're jest the chap I've been a lookin' fur,' said he; andbefore I could tell what he was going to do, he caught me up in hisarms as if I had been a child, and plunged into the willows. I did notstruggle nor shout for help, nor do I believe I even trembled when,after carrying me perhaps half a mile into the woods, he put me down ona log, and, seating himself beside me, coolly announced that he wasBlack Bill, and that, having got hold of me at last, it was hisdetermination to hold fast to me.
"'I've been many a long year tryin' to get you,' said he, with savagesatisfaction, 'an' now I'm goin' to make a second Black Bill of you. Imade that promise to your father more'n twelve year ago, an' I haintforgot it. When I see you as I have been--hunted through the mountainslike a wild beast, an' shot at by every white feller who crosses yourtrail, then I'll be satisfied.'
"I had lived in fear of this man from my earliest boyhood, and had morethan once tried to imagine the terror I should experience if I shouldever be so unfortunate as to fall into his power; but now that I was hisprisoner, I was not at all afraid of him. If your cousin, whom hecaptured last night by mistake, had been safe among friends, I shouldhave felt no uneasiness; but, perhaps, after all, it was a good thingfor Archie that Black Bill carried him to the Indian camp, for if he hadbeen at the fort during the fight, he might not have been as fortunateas I was. A good many of our people were cut down, and I don't supposethat more than a dozen escaped.
"After thinking over my situation, I made up my mind that fate haddestined me to a long captivity among the Indians, in company with thisoutlaw, and that I would endure it with what fortitude I could.Sometimes, when I thought of the scenes I had witnessed during thathand-to-hand fight, and reflected upon my father's chances for escape, Idid not care what became of me. Black Bill said I would never see himagain, and I believed him; and told myself that, if I must live withoutmy father, I might as well be among savages as anywhere else. But Ithink differently, now that you have rescued me. I hope to be a man someday, and when that time comes, such fellows as Black Bill and his mates,who are constantly spreading dissatisfaction among the Indians, andurging them on to the war-trail, will have good cause to remember me. Towhom are you making signals?" continued Adam, suddenly raising himselfon his elbow, and looking earnestly at the outlaw.
Frank had been so intent upon his breakfast, and so deeply interested inhis friend's story, that he had not thought of keeping a lookout forenemies; consequently he did not see the figure clad in buckskin, whichcrept stealthily through the trees on the opposite side of the brook,and took up a position behind a huge bowlder, from which a good view ofthe camp could be obtained. But the figure was there, and it was that ofan outlaw--one of Black Bill's mates. His eyes, which swept rapidly overthe camp, were open to their widest extent, and on his face, as heraised it cautiously above the bowlder, was an expression of greatastonishment. Black Bill saw him, if the boys did not; and, by turningpartly around and showing his confined hands, and by nodding his head,and winking his eyes, and making other mysterious signs, he must havesucceeded in making the spy understand the situation, for he disappearedbehind the bowlder, and stole back into the woods.
"You were making signals to somebody," exclaimed Adam, catching up theoutlaw's rifle, and casting suspicious glances through the trees aroundhim.
"Makin' signals to the air, then," replied Black Bill, sullenly. "Tharaint nobody within miles of here that I knows on."
But Adam had lived too long on the frontier, and knew too much about theoutlaw to be easily deceived. He had distinctly seen the prisonernodding his head, and with the quick instinct of one who had passed hislife surrounded with foes of every sort, he scented danger. Frank mighthave been satisfied with Black Bill's reply, and the innocent, surprisedexpression on his face, but Adam was not. He jumped to his feet, andrunning across the brook, looked up at the top of the cliffs under whichthey had been sitting. As he did so, he passed behind the bowlder wherethe spy had been concealed but a moment before, and there he stopped,and leaning carelessly upon the rock, said, in a whisper to Frank, whohad followed close at his heels:
"Don't exhibit any surprise, but look down at those leaves. Somebody hasbeen here."
Frank looked, but could see nothing suspicious. Adam's trained eye, askeen as an Indian's, had, at a single glance, discovered signs of anenemy that Frank could not have found after an hour's careful search.
"I may have passed behind this rock when I first came to the brook,"said he.
"If you did you never left those tracks," said Adam. "They were made bymoccasins; and you've got shoes on. They were made by a white man, too,for the toes point out. If it had been an Indian, the toes would pointin. A friend of Black Bill's was here not more than two minutes ago; andthe sooner we get away from here the better it will be for us. Whatshall we do with our prisoner?"
"Let's take him with us, and compel him to show us the way to FortBenton," replied Frank, astonished at his friend's skill in wood-craft,and at the coolness and deliberation with which he spoke.
"That would never do," said Adam, quickly. "His friends will be after usin less than five minutes, and he would shout to guide them in thepursuit. Besides, we are completely lost, and how could we tell whetheror not he was guiding us to the fort? He would take us as straight tothe Indian camp as he could go."
"Well, if we leave him here he will call for help the minute we are outof sight."
"Perhaps he will not be able to call for help by the time we are donewith him. I'll tell you what we will do," continued Adam, glancingtoward the outlaw, who still sat on the ground, closely watching alltheir movements, "do you get behind him, throw your arm around his neck,and choke him with all your power; and I'll cram my handkerchief intohis mouth. Then catch him by the shoulders, and drag him to that saplingand tie him there; and while you are doing that, I will secure his knifeand tomahawk, and also his powder-horn and bullet-pouch. After thatwe'll take to our heels, and do some of the best running we ever did inour lives. There's not a single instant to be lost. Don't flinch, now."
Adam knew that Frank was a remarkably swift runner, an excellentwrestler, and a splendid shot with the rifle; but he had never seen himin a situation like this, and he did not know how cool and determined hecould be. If he had, he would not have talked to him about "flinching."
"Wal," exclaimed the outlaw, as the boys sprang across the brook, "seenany thing wuth lookin' at? Didn't diskiver none of my mates hangin'around in the bushes, did you?"
"We saw all we wanted to see," replied Adam. "We saw foot-prints behindthat bowlder, and we know who made them. That's the way to do it! Chokehim till he opens his mouth."
While Adam was occupying the outlaw's attention, Frank had steppedbehind him, and thrown his arm around his neck. He struggled and triedto shout for help; but the strong grasp on his throat rendered himpowerless, and effectually stifled his cries. His under jaw droppeddown, and the handkerchief which Adam held ready in his hand, was forcedinto his mouth. A moment afterward Black Bill was lying flat on hisback, held down by Frank's handkerchief, which was passed around hisneck and tied to the sapling of which Adam had spoken, and the boys,having possessed themselves of their weapons, and the outlaw'sammunition, were scrambling up the cliff like a couple of goats. Theylooked back now and then to satisfy themselves that their prisoner wasstill secure, and both told themselves that if they should be sounfortunate as to again fall into his power, their treatment would bevery different from that which they had already received at his hands.Black Bill seemed almost beside himself with rage. He glared up at themlike a madman, and made the most desperate attempts to free himself fromhis bonds; but the boys, although they had done their work quickly, haddone it well, and as long as they remained in sight of the outlaw, hehad accomplished nothing toward liberating himself.
Arriving at the top of the cliff, Adam shouldered his rifle, and sprangforward at the top of his speed, closely followed by Frank, who steppedas nearly as possible in his tracks. For nearly half an hour they flewalong without speaking, turning their heads occasionally to listen forsounds of pursuit, making use of all their skill to render their trailas indistinct as possible, and finally they slackened their pace to arapid walk, which they kept up for two hours longer without oncestopping to rest. At the end of that time, Frank, being satisfied thatthey were out of danger for the present, proposed "half an hour forrefreshments." The half hour was really not more than ten minutes, forthe boys were so much afraid of the enemies who they knew were followingthem, that they regarded every instant spent in needful repose as somuch time wasted. Their refreshments consisted of just nothing atall--not even a drop of water to cool their lips. They could not stop tocook a dinner, even if they had had any thing to cook; and after a veryshort rest, during which they talked over their situation, and tried todetermine upon their plans for the future, they sprang up, and resumedtheir flight, Adam, as before, leading the way.
The outlaw had told his nephew that Fort Benton, which was the nearesttrading-post, and the place to which all the trappers and soldiers whoescaped the massacre would be likely to direct their course, was ahundred miles distant; and the boys had decided, after much debate, thatit lay nearly due east of Fort Stockton. A hundred miles from thenearest place of refuge, in the heart of an unbroken wilderness, everystep of the way they must travel beset with dangers, and their pathwaylaid by crafty foes who might spring out on them without an instant'swarning! Twenty miles of mountains and ravines to be passed over, andeighty miles more of prairie, where there was not even a thicket ofbushes to afford them concealment from their enemies, to be traversed onfoot! Would they ever succeed in reaching the fort?
"It looks like a slim chance, doesn't it?" said Adam, who easily readthe thoughts that were passing through Frank's mind. "But father used totell me that a fellow never knows how much he can accomplish until hetries. We will do the best we can, and if we fail we shall have thesatisfaction of knowing that it isn't our fault."
Frank's endurance was severely tested that day. He found that travelingthrough the mountains on foot was something besides a holiday pastime,especially with such a guide as Adam, who moved along without anyapparent effort, threading his way through the thick, tangled busheswith a celerity that was surprising. The afternoon wore slowly away, andjust as the sun was sinking out of sight behind the mountains, the boys,weary and footsore, halted in the edge of the willows, and looked outover the prairie which stretched away before them as far as their eyescould reach. Adam stood for a long time with his chin resting on themuzzle of his rifle, and his gaze fixed upon the horizon, thinking ofhis father and Captain Porter, and wondering if he should meet them ifhe succeeded in reaching the fort; while Frank, after satisfying himselfthat there were no Indians in sight, became interested in objects in hisimmediate vicinity. He thought the place looked familiar. There was awide, shallow creek flowing through the ravine in which they werestanding, and on its left bank arose a rocky cliff, which hung over thebed of the stream. Under the branches of a spreading oak which grew nearthe foot of the cliff, were the remains of a camp-fire; and a littlefarther on was a sapling which had been stripped of its bark. Frankremembered that sapling. It was the one to which Roderick had been tiedwhen the trappers first brought him into camp. The horse was wild andvicious then, and after trying in vain to break the lasso with which hewas confined, he had attacked the tree with his teeth, and peeled offthe bark as neatly as it could have been done with a knife.
"We have accomplished the hardest part of our journey," said Adam, hisgaze still wandering over the prairie in the direction he supposed thetrading-post to be, "and now comes the dangerous part. If what fathersaid about a general rising of the Indians was correct, the savages arescattered all over the plains between here and the fort; and if we getthrough, it will be more by good luck than good management. Do you seeany thing?"
"Yes, I do," said Frank; "I see plenty of old friends. I know everystick of timber about here, for I passed three of the pleasantest weeksof my life in this very ravine. You have heard Dick and Bob speak of theOld Bear's Hole, haven't you? Come with me, and I will show it to you."
Frank crossed the creek and began pulling aside the bushes at the baseof the cliff, searching for the entrance to the cave. Dick had told himthat more than one sharp-eyed Comanche had looked for it in vain, andfor a long time Frank thought he should meet with no better success; butat last he dis
covered the entrance by stepping into it accidentally. Themouth of the passage was filled with leaves, which had effectuallyconcealed it from his view.
"The cave must be a mile or two below, isn't it?" asked Adam, gazingdubiously at the dark opening.
"No; it is above ground altogether, and is inside this rock," repliedFrank, pointing to the cliff. "But the question is, Shall we use it, nowthat we have found it? Do you suppose that Black Bill and his friendsare in pursuit of us?"
"Of course they are. They won't give us up so easily."
"But we have taken a great deal of pains to conceal our trail, and theymay not be able to follow it."
"Don't you believe it," replied Adam, with a laugh. "Those men's eyesare as sharp as a hound's nose. If they can track an Indian when he isdoing his best to cover up his trail, they can surely follow us. We arenot done with them yet."
"Then I propose that we sleep in the Old Bear's Hole. I can't travel anyfarther to-night, and I should feel much safer in the cave than I shouldif we camped in the open air. We can't get along without some supper,and we must have a fire to cook it; and that might attract the attentionof the outlaws if they should happen to be in the neighborhood."
The matter was settled without any further debate, and the boys began tobusy themselves in collecting a supply of pine-knots to serve astorches. This done, Adam lighted one of them with his flint and steel,and handed it to Frank, who backed down into the opening; but, to hisfriend's surprise, he came out of it again much more quickly than he hadgone in.
"I have just thought of something," said he, in reply to Adam'sinquiring look. "The first night we camped here, while we were on ourway to California, Dick Lewis went into the cave and found that agrizzly bear had taken possession of it. He had a terrible fight withthe animal, and was so badly clawed up that his most intimate friendwould not have recognized him. There may be a bear in there now for allwe know."
"That's so," said Adam. "Must we give up the idea of sleeping in thecave?"
"Not yet. Dick and Bob, who spent many a day here hiding from theIndians, were old foxes, and had two holes to their burrow. Come withme, and I will show you the other."
Frank led the way to the top of the cliff, and, after a short search,discovered the entrance to the upper passage-way. He was not greatlyencouraged when he found it, for he saw that a path, hard and wellbeaten as any road, led from it down the side of the cliff. Then heblessed his lucky stars that he had not gone into the cave. It had anoccupant, the character of which was proved by the bones that layscattered about on both sides of the path. It was some ravenous beast ofprey, which probably would not feel disposed to abandon his snugquarters without a fight. Adam kneeled down beside the passage-way, and,after a single glance into the cave, sprang up and threw his rifleforward in readiness to shoot. Frank looked in and saw a pair of eyes,which shone like coals of fire, glaring at him through the darkness.
"It isn't a grizzly," said Adam, "but something almost as bad. It's apanther. He must come out of there, too," he added, pulling off his hatand digging his fingers into his head to stir up his ideas. "That caveis the only safe place we can find, and we must have it, whether he iswilling or not."
"Hand me your rifle," said Frank; "I'll fix him."
"Not for the world," replied Adam, quickly. "You must remember that wehave enemies not a great way off, and that it stands us well in hand tobe quiet about what we do. Besides, there may be a whole family ofpanthers in there, and if you should wound one of them, we'd have afight on our hands directly. I know how to manage him. Take this rifleand climb up into that tree, and when he comes out tell me."
Frank did as his companion requested. He mounted into the topmostbranches of the tree, and, after settling himself into a comfortableposition, from which he could watch the mouth of the passage-way, heturned to observe Adam's movements. He saw him, with a long stick in hishand, kneeling before the opening at the foot of the cliff, engaged inpushing a quantity of dried leaves and pine-knots into the passage-way.Then his plan was clear enough to Frank: he was going to smoke thepanther out.
Adam worked steadily for half an hour, and then Frank, seeing him takehis flint and steel from his pocket, turned his attention to thepassage-way at the top of the hill. There was draught sufficient to makethe fire burn well, and presently Frank heard a great roaring andcrackling in the cave, and a thin wreath of smoke came curling out. Withthe smoke came the panther, which was evidently very much alarmed bythis unexpected assault upon his home, for he flew down the path like aflash of light, and speedily disappeared in the bushes. Adam's plan hadworked to perfection. The Old Bear's Hole had been cleared of itsdangerous occupant, and the boys were at liberty to take possession ofit.