CHAPTER IV.
THE TRAPPER A PRISONER.
If Frank was disappointed in one respect, he was greatly encouraged inanother. He had discovered something that went a long way towardstrengthening his hopes of escape, and that was that the Indians werenot watching him very closely. The guard at the door had not noticed himwhen he looked out, and this induced the belief that the chief hadplaced him there simply to keep Frank from roaming about the village,and not because he feared that his prisoner might attempt to escape.That idea had probably never occurred to him. But the chief did not knowmuch about boys, especially such boys as Frank Nelson. He had yet tolearn that the young hunter possessed a goodly share of courage anddetermination, as well as speed and activity.
Frank lay there on the pile of buffalo robes until dark, and then thedoor opened, and an old Indian woman came in with a small camp-kettle,which she placed upon the ground in the middle of the lodge, and wentout again. The contents of the kettle were smoking hot, and the odorthat filled the lodge reminded Frank that he had not lost his appetite,and that he was as hungry as a wolf, in spite of all the excitements ofthe afternoon. An examination of the kettle showed that it containedbuffalo meat. Taking his knife from his pocket, Frank seated himself onthe ground and began his supper. It was not quite as good as some he hadeaten at his quiet little home on the banks of Glen's Creek, but thebuffalo meat was nourishing, and when the last vestige of it haddisappeared, Frank arose to his feet, put his knife into his pocket, anddeclared that he felt better.
"I could run, now, if these Indians would only give me half a chance,"said he, to himself. "I may yet show them what I can do, unless theystation a sentry at the back of this lodge. Now if I only had a drink ofwater!"
As Frank said this he went to the door again, and there was the guard,standing in the same position in which he had seen him before, leaningon his spear, and gazing off into vacancy. Frank did not believe that hehad moved a muscle during the last two hours.
"I say, old fellow!" he exclaimed, "is there any water about here?"Then, fearing that the savage might not understand him, he made a motionwith his hand as though he were drinking from a cup.
The guard did not reply, but beckoned to the prisoner to follow him, andled the way through the village toward the ravine from which the chiefand his party had entered the valley. Frank, ever on the alert, exultedat this. He knew that the guard was conducting him to a spring, and hesincerely hoped that it would prove to be outside the village. In thatevent, one Indian, even though he was armed with a spear, could notprevent him from making at least an attempt at escape. If he could getbut two feet the start of the sentry, he believed that he could eludehim in the darkness. Unfortunately for the success of these plans,however, the spring was not outside the village. It was but a shortdistance from the place where he had been confined, and all around itwere lodges, beside which stalwart warriors lay upon their blankets,smoking their pipes. The least attempt at escape would have brought themaround him like a cloud of mosquitoes. He must wait until some morefavorable opportunity.
Frank kneeled down beside the spring, and took a long and refreshingdrink, and then quietly followed the guard back to his prison. He lookedinto the wigwams as he passed along, and now that he had in some measurerecovered his usual spirits, he began to be interested in what was goingon around him; but he did not see any thing to induce him to give uphome and friends, and turn Indian. The idea was a novel one to him, andhe could have smiled at it, had it not been for the preparations forbattle that were every-where visible in the camp--the horses saddled andwaiting, the weapons hung upon the poles of the lodge, where they couldbe seized at a moment's warning, and the braves in war-paint, ready tomove at the word. Frank noticed these things, and thought of hisfriends at the fort. If the expected reinforcements arrived in time, thesavages might make the attack that very night.
When Frank found himself once more inside his prison, he stretchedhimself on the buffalo robes, and waited impatiently for the Indians togo to sleep. How wearily the hours dragged by, and how Frank alternatedbetween hope and fear, can be imagined better than we can describe it.Sometimes he looked upon his escape as an assured thing. When theIndians were all asleep, it would be a matter of but little difficultyfor him to creep out of the lodge, and make his way through the villageto the ravine. It was easy enough for him to sit there on the buffalorobes and think about it, but when he imagined himself _doing_ it, andpictured to himself the dangers in his way, his hopes fell again; andthen, had it not been for the remembrance of what the outlaw had toldhim, he would have been tempted to abandon all thoughts of escape. If itwould have required all the skill and cunning that Dick and Bobpossessed to outwit the savages in a case like this, what could aninexperienced boy of sixteen do?
Frank thought the Indians did not intend to go to sleep at all thatnight. He heard them moving about until a late hour, and it was midnightbefore the silence that reigned in the camp told him that if he everintended to carry out the plans he had determined upon, the time hadcome to do it. His heart beat fast and furiously as he pulled off hisshoes, and moved noiselessly across the lodge toward the corner in whichthe chief had deposited his blanket and spear. He was very deliberate inhis movements, and there was need of all his caution; for the guardstood almost within reach of him, and the slightest noise inside thelodge would have brought him in there immediately. Frank threw thechief's blanket over his shoulders, put on the head-dress, picked up thespear, and crept cautiously across the lodge. He threw himself upon hishands and knees, and after listening a moment to assure himself that theguard had not been alarmed, he lifted up the skins which formed the wallof the lodge, and looked out. The camp was as silent as though it hadbeen deserted. On every hand he could see the smoldering embers of thefires by which the savages had cooked their suppers, but not a livingbeing was in sight. Drawing in a long breath he crawled slowly out ofthe lodge, and after lingering a moment to arrange the blanket about hisshoulders, he grasped the spear firmly in his hand, and stole away intothe darkness, looking back now and then to make sure that he was keepingthe lodge between him and the guard. An intervening row of wigwamsfinally shut his prison from his sight, and Frank began to congratulatehimself on having accomplished the most difficult part of hisundertaking.
"When the chiefs reinforcements arrive, and he makes the attack on thefort, and finds the trappers and soldiers ready to receive him, he willwish he had taken a little more pains to watch me," thought Frank, as,with a step that would not have awakened a cricket, he made his waythrough the village toward the ravine. "If Dick and Bob had been hisprisoners he would, no doubt, have kept them bound hand and foot; butI'm a boy, and he thought he had nothing to fear from me. I'll teachhim something."
The tall figure of an Indian glided suddenly across the path in front ofhim, and interrupted his soliloquy. Frank's first impulse was to throwdown the spear and blanket, and take to his heels; but remembering intime that he was personating an Indian, and that every thing dependedupon his getting out of the village before the guard at the chief'swigwam discovered his flight, he straightened up and boldly approachedthe Indian, who merely turned his head and looked at Frank, and thendisappeared among the lodges. That was another danger passed; andcommending the forethought that had induced him to use the chief'sclothing as a disguise, he kept on with increased speed toward themountains, which, to his impatient eye, seemed as far off as when heleft his prison. But he was gradually nearing them all the while, andwhen the last lodge had been left behind, and was concealed from hisview by the thick shrubbery and trees that lined the banks of theravine, his fear and trembling vanished, and it was all he could do torefrain from giving vent to his jubilant feelings. He sat down on theground to put on his shoes, which he had been thoughtful enough to bringwith him, then took the blanket under his arm, and never stopping tothink that there might be Indians in front of him as well as behind, hebroke into a run and flew down the ravine like the wind.
"I haven't done much to b
rag of, seeing that I was not very closelywatched," thought he, "but still I think I have played those savages apretty sharp trick. Now, if I only had Dick's speed and experience!"
If Frank had possessed the trapper's experience, he would have been muchmore cautious in his movements, and might, perhaps, have succeeded inreaching the valley in safety. He would have curbed his eagerness whichproved fatal to his hopes. There was a party of Indians coming up theravine with a prisoner; and their quick ears caught the sound of Frank'sfootsteps long before he came in sight. The prisoner knew who it wasapproaching at that reckless gate, and so did the Indians, who, at asign from their leader, quickly concealed themselves beside the path;and when Frank was on the point of passing their ambush, a figure whichseemed to rise out of the ground clasped him in its strong arms, and hewas a prisoner again almost before he knew it.
The first Indian who confronted him, as he was lifted to his feet, wasthe chief, who astonished his prisoner by the reception he gave him. Heseemed somewhat surprised to see him there, but he did not appear to beangry. He looked at the blanket and spear, then at Frank, and giving hima hearty slap on the back said, approvingly:
"Good boy! Make fine Injun, some day!"
Frank, although his face was very pale, and he was trembling in everylimb, was not as badly frightened now as when he first found himself inthe power of the savages. For himself he was not at all concerned, forhe did not stand in any fear of bodily harm; but there were his friendsin the valley, whom he was so anxious to warn of their danger! It was ofthem he thought, and not of himself.
"I say, youngster," said a cheery, familiar voice, close at his elbow,"you've got a few things to larn yet, haint you? When a feller is in anInjun country he can't go tearin' through the woods as you did a minuteago. I can't shake hands with you, 'cause I am tied hard and fast."
"Dick Lewis!" cried Frank, in alarm. He was too astonished to speakagain immediately. The redoubtable trapper was always turning up mostunexpectedly, and generally, too, at just the moment when his serviceswere most needed; but on this occasion he was not in a condition toassist his young friend. For the first time in his life Frank was notglad to see Dick. He would rather have had him a hundred miles fromthere, for he knew that the treatment the trapper would receive at thehands of his savage foes would be very different from his own.
"Well, what are you doing here?" asked Frank, at length.
"I might ask you the same question, I reckon," replied Dick. "Whatbusiness had you to go roamin' off alone in the mountains, arter I hadtold you to keep your eyes open fur these Injuns? I knowed what was upthe minute Archie come home without you; an' me an' Bob set out to findyou. Bob's old legs tuk him safe out of danger, but I was ketched. I amhere 'cause I can't help myself."
"But, Dick, does Captain Porter know that these Indians have suddenlyturned hostile?"
"Turned!" exclaimed Dick. "They've been hostile ever since they wasborn. Of course he knows it. Come up closer, youngster, so that I canwhisper to you, an' I'll tell you something."
While this conversation was going on, the prisoners were being conductedup the ravine toward the camp. The chief led the way, two Indians, whostepped exactly in his tracks, followed close at his heels, Frank andDick, who walked side by side, came next, and two more Indians broughtup the rear. The savages made no attempt to restrain their prisonersfrom talking, and Frank was glad it was so.
"The Cap'n didn't like the way these Injuns acted this mornin', nomore'n I did," continued the trapper, in a low tone. "He spoke to themajor, an' told him that if he knowed when he was well off he would lookout fur things a leetle; an' the ole feller tuk the hint an' set hissoldiers to work on the fort. Thar's too many ole trappers down in thatvalley, an' they can't be tuk by surprise."
"You don't know how overjoyed I am to hear that," whispered Frank, whonow breathed more freely than at any time since he had fallen into thehands of the savages. "Then Archie will be safe, won't he?"
"Sartin he will, unless he goes about pokin' his nose into danger likehe allers does. He's jest spilin' to have his har raised, Archie is, an'it was all me an' ole Bob could do to keep him from comin' with us whenwe set out to look fur you. The chief's goin' to make an Injun of you, Ican see that easy enough."
"That's what Black Bill says."
"Black Bill!" echoed the trapper. "Is he about here? Wal, if I don'tsettle with him ole Bob will, so it's all the same. I kinder thought, bythe squint in the chief's eye, that it would have been better fur you ifyou had kept away from that camp," he continued. "Injuns don't giner'lytake sich a monstrous shine to white boys fur nothing. It won't be longafore you'll have a chance to see how the red skins treat theirprisoners. Mebbe the chief will get up a show fur you to-night."
"A show!" repeated Frank.
"Yes. How would you like to see me tied to the stake, or runnin' thegauntlet?"
No one, to have heard the trapper speak these words, would have imaginedthat he had any fears that such would be his fate; but Frank knew thathe expected nothing else.
"The chief is awful mad at me," continued Dick. "Thar were 'leven men inhis party, when me an' ole Bob first diskivered 'em, an' now you don'tsee but four, do you? Thar's four more behind us, bringin' up the threethat me an' Bob rubbed out. I'll have to stand punishment fur that; butI don't reckon that burnin' me or slashin' me with tomahawks will bringto life all the braves I have sent to the happy huntin' grounds."
A long, mournful yell from the chief interrupted the conversation. Franklooked up and saw the village in plain sight. The chief had given thatyell to warn the camp of his arrival. Dick called it the "death-whoop,"and said that one object of it was to inform the warriors that some ofthose, who had gone out on the scout with the chief, had fallen by thehands of their enemies. Presently an answer came echoing through thewoods, then another, and another; and when they emerged from the ravine,Frank found the village, which had been so quiet when he left it but afew minutes before, alive with men, women, and children, who seemed wildwith excitement and rage. When their eyes rested on the trapper, theygave utterance to savage yells of exultation, and almost before Frankwas aware of it, he was standing alone, gazing after a crowd ofstruggling, frantic Indians, who were bearing his fellow prisoner towardthe chief's wigwam. Tomahawks and knives were flourished in the airclose to Dick's face, arrows and rifles were pointed at his breast,spears were thrust at him, and now and then hickory switches in thehands of those behind him, fell with stinging force on his head andshoulders. Before he was carried out of sight, his face was bleedingfrom more than one wound; but Frank looked in vain for any expression offear. The trapper was apparently as calm and self-possessed as he wouldhave been had he at that moment been smoking his pipe on the porch ofMr. Brent's rancho. He never winced when the weapons of his savage foespassed within an inch of his person--indeed, one would have thought,from his manner, that he did not see them all. Never before had Frankwitnessed such an exhibition of courage and fortitude.
When the trapper had disappeared from his view, Frank, who had stoodrooted to the ground, horrified by the scene he was witnessing, awoke toa sense of his own situation, and began to look about him. Althoughthere were Indians on all sides of him, no one seemed to take the leastnotice of him. His hands were tied behind his back, but he could moveabout as he pleased, for his feet were free. Scarcely knowing what hewas doing, he followed in the direction the crowd had gone; and when hearrived at the chief's lodge he found that some unusual event was aboutto take place. The yells were hushed, and most of the Indians weregathered in a body on one side of the council ground, in the center ofwhich two or three warriors were busy kindling a fire. Upon lookingaround for the trapper, he discovered him at the opposite side of theground, standing with his back to a post, to which he was securelybound. Near him stood a couple of armed Indians; and when Frankapproached his friend, they motioned him angrily to retire.
"Oh, don't I wish that my hands were unbound, and that I could have thefree use of my knife for just one min
ute?" groaned Frank, as hereluctantly retraced his steps toward the chief's wigwam. "Dick wouldn'tbe in that fix long. He has saved me more than once, and I would riskany thing, if I could do as much for him now. Where is Bob, that hedon't bring the trappers up here and attack these Indians?"
Frank stood off by himself and watched the preparations going on aroundhim, and wondered what would be the next torture the savages woulddevise for their prisoner. He could not have been more terrified if hehad occupied Dick's place, and had been every moment expecting to hearthe death sentence passed upon him. He did not like the deliberationand gravity with which the Indians conducted their proceedings, nor thescowls of mingled hatred and triumph which they threw across thecouncil-ground toward the helpless trapper. He thought things lookedexceedingly dark for his friend.
The huge fire that had been kindled by the warriors was well under wayat last, and a dozen chiefs walked out from among their companions, andseated themselves in a circle around it. The first business in order wassmoking the pipe of peace. The pipe was brought in by an aged warrior,who lighted it with a brand from the fire, and was about to present itto the principal chief, when the proceedings were interrupted by thearrival of a party of four men, who walked up to the fire withoutceremony, and seated themselves near it. Frank recognized them at aglance; and that same glance showed him that they had not come alone.They had brought a prisoner with them, and he was standing near thetrapper, with his hands bound behind his back.