CHAPTER III.
THE TRAIL.
Eagle Head, who wished to be discovered by his enemies, had not takenany pains to conceal his trail.
It was perfectly visible in the high grass, and if now and then itappeared to be effaced, the hunters had but slightly to turn to one sideor the other to regain the prints of it.
Never before had a foe been pursued on the prairies in such a fashion.It must have appeared the more singular to Loyal Heart, who, for a longtime, had been acquainted with the cunning of the Indians, and knew withwhat skill, when they judged it necessary, they caused every indicationof their passage to disappear.
This facility gave him reason to reflect. As the Comanches had taken nomore pains to conceal their track, they must either believe themselvesvery strong, or else they had prepared an ambush into which they hopedto make their too confident enemies fall.
The two hunters rode on, casting, from time to time, a look right andleft, in order to be sure they were not deceived; but the track stillcontinued in a straight line, without turnings or circuits. It wasimpossible to meet with greater facilities in a pursuit. Belhumeurhimself began to think this very extraordinary, and to be made seriouslyuneasy by it.
But if the Comanches had been unwilling to take the pains of concealingtheir trail, the hunters did not follow their example; they did notadvance a step without effacing the trace of their passage.
They arrived thus on the banks of a tolerably broad rivulet, named theVerdigris, which is a tributary of the great Canadian river.
Before crossing this little stream, on the other side of which thehunters would no longer be very far from the Indians, Loyal Heartstopped, making a sign to his companion to do so likewise.
Both dismounted, and leading their horses by the bridle, they soughtthe shelter of a clump of trees, in order not to be perceived, if, bychance, some Indian sentinel should be set to watch their approach.
When they were concealed in the thickness of the wood, Loyal Heartplaced a finger on his lip to recommend prudence to his companion, and,approaching his lips to his ear, he said, in a voice low as a breath,--
"Before we go any farther, let us consult, in order to ascertain what wehad better do."
Belhumeur bent his head in sign of acquiescence.
"I suspect some treachery," the hunter resumed; "Indians are tooexperienced warriors, and too much accustomed to the life of theprairies, to act in this way without an imperative reason."
"That is true," the Canadian replied, with a tone of conviction; "thistrail is too good and too plainly indicated not to conceal a snare."
"Yes, but they have wished to be too cunning; their craft has overshotthe mark; old hunters, like us, are not to be deceived thus. We mustredouble our prudence, and examine every leaf and blade of grass withcare, before we venture nearer the encampment of the redskins."
"Let us do better," said Belhumeur, casting a glance around him; "letus conceal our horses in a safe place, where we can find them again atneed, and then go and reconnoitre on foot the position and the number ofthose whom we wish to surprise."
"You are right, Belhumeur," said Loyal Heart; "your counsel isexcellent, we will put it in practice."
"I think we had better make haste in that case."
"Why so? On the contrary, do not let us hurry; the Indians, not seeingus appear, will relax in their watchfulness, and we will profit by theirnegligence to attack them, if we should be forced to have recourse tosuch extreme measures; besides, it would be better to wait for the nightbefore we commence our expedition."
"In the first place, let us put our horses in safety. Afterwards, weshall see what is best to be done."
The hunters left their concealment with the greatest precaution. Insteadof crossing the river, they retraced their road, and for some timefollowed the route they had already traversed, then they bent a littleto the left, and entered a ravine, in which they quickly disappearedamong the high grass.
"I leave you to be guide, Belhumeur," said Loyal Heart, "I really do notknow whither you are leading me!"
"Leave it to me, I have by chance discovered, within two gunshots of theplace where we now are, a sort of citadel, where our horses will be assafe as possible, and in which, if so it should fall out, we should beable to sustain a regular siege."
"_Caramba!_" the hunter exclaimed, who, by this oath, which was habitualwith him, betrayed his Spanish origin, "how did you make this preciousdiscovery?"
"Faith!" said Belhumeur, "in the simplest manner possible. I had justlaid my traps, when, in climbing up the mountain before us in order toshorten my road and rejoin you more quickly, at nearly two-thirds of theascent, I saw, protruding from the bushes the velvety muzzle of a superbbear."
"Ah! ah! I am pretty well acquainted with that adventure. You brought methat day, if I am not mistaken, not one, but two black bearskins."
"That is the same, my fine fellows were two, one male and the otherfemale. You may easily suppose that at the sight of them my hunter'sinstincts were immediately roused; forgetful of my fatigue, I cocked myrifle, and set out in pursuit of them. You will see for yourself whatsort of a fortress they had chosen," he added, as he alighted from hishorse, and Loyal Heart followed his example.
Before them rose, in the shape of an amphitheatre, a mass of rocks,which assumed the most curious and fantastic shapes; thin bushes spranghere and there from the interstices of the stones, climbing plantscrowned the summits of the rocks, and gave to this mass, which rose morethan six hundred feet above the prairie, the appearance of one of thoseancient feudal ruins which are to be met with occasionally on the banksof the great rivers of Europe.
This place was named by the hunters of these plains, the White Castle,from the colour of the blocks of granite which formed it.
"We shall never be able to get up there with our horses," said LoyalHeart, after carefully surveying for an instant the space they had toclear.
"Let us try, at all events!" said Belhumeur, pulling his horse by thebridle.
The ascent was rough, and any other horses than those of hunters,accustomed to the most difficult roads, would have been unable toaccomplish it, but would have rolled from the top to the bottom.
It was necessary to choose with care the spot on which the foot mustbe placed, and then to spring forward at a bound, and all this withturnings and twisting enough to produce a dizziness.
After half an hour of extraordinary difficulties they arrived at a sortof platform, ten yards broad at most.
"This is it!" said Belhumeur, stopping.
"How this?" Loyal Heart replied, looking around on all sides withoutperceiving an opening.
"Come this way!" said Belhumeur, smiling.
And still dragging his horse after him, he passed behind a block of therock, the hunter following him with awakened curiosity.
After walking for five minutes in a sort of trench, at most three feetwide, which seemed to wind round upon itself, the adventurers foundthemselves suddenly before the yawning mouth of a deep cavern.
This road, formed by one of those terrible convulsions of nature sofrequent in these regions, was so well concealed behind the rocks andstones which masked it, that it was impossible to discover it except bya providential chance.
The hunters entered.
Before ascending the mountain, Belhumeur had collected a large provisionof candlewood; he lit two torches, keeping one for himself, and givingthe other to his companion.
Then the grotto appeared to them in all its wild majesty.
Its walls were high and covered with brilliant stalactites, whichreflected back the light, multiplying it, and forming a fairy-likeillumination.
"This cavern," said Belhumeur, after he had given his friend time toexamine it in all its details, "is, I have no doubt, one of the wondersof the prairies; this gallery, which descends in a gentle declivitybefore us, passes under the Verdigris, and debouches on the other sideof the river, at a distance of more than a mile, into the plain. Inaddition to
the gallery by which we entered, and that which is beforeus, there exist four others, all of which have issues at differentplaces. You see that here we are in no risk of being surrounded, andthat these spacious chambers offer us a suite of apartments splendidenough to make the president of the United States himself jealous."
Loyal Heart, enchanted with the discovery of this refuge, wished toexamine it perfectly, and although he was naturally very silent, thehunter could not always withhold his admiration.
"Why have you never told me of this place before?" he said to Belhumeur.
"I waited for the opportunity," the latter replied.
The hunters secured their horses, with abundance of provender, in oneof the compartments of the grotto, into which the light penetrated byimperceptible fissures; and then, when they were satisfied that thenoble animals; could want for nothing during their absence, and couldnot escape, they threw their rifles over their shoulders, whistled totheir dogs, and, descended with hasty steps the gallery which passedunder the river.
Soon the air became moist around them, a dull, continuous noise washeard above their heads,--they were passing under the Verdigris. Thanksto a species of lantern, formed by a hollow rock rising in the middleof the river's course, there was light sufficient to guide them.
After half an hour's walk they debouched in the prairie by an entrancemasked by bushes and creeping plants.
They had remained a long time in the grotto. In the first place, theyhad examined it minutely, like men who foresaw that some day or otherthey should stand in need of seeking a shelter there; next they hadmade a kind of stable for their horses; and lastly, they had snatched ahasty morsel of food, so that the sun was on the point of setting at themoment when they set off again upon the track of the Comanches.
Then commenced the true Indian pursuit. The two hunters, after havinglaid on their bloodhounds, glided silently in their traces, creeping ontheir hands and knees through the high grass, the eye on the watch, theear on the listen, holding their breath, and stopping at intervals toinhale the air, and interrogate those thousand sounds of the prairieswhich hunters notice with incredible facility, and which they explainwithout hesitation.
The desert was plunged in a death-like silence.
At the approach of night in these immense solitudes, nature seems tocollect herself, and prepare, by a religious devotion, for the mysteriesof darkness.
The hunters continued advancing, redoubling their precautions, andcreeping along in parallel lines.
All at once the dogs came silently to a stop. The brave animals seemedto comprehend the value of silence in these parts, and that a single crywould cost their masters their lives.
Belhumeur cast a piercing glance around him. His eye flashed, hegathered himself up, and bounding like a panther, he sprang upon anIndian warrior, who, with his body bent forward, and his head down,seemed to be sensible of the approach of an enemy.
The Indian was roughly thrown upon his back, and before he could utter acry of distress or for help, Belhumeur had his throat in his grasp andhis knee on his breast.
Then, with the greatest coolness, the hunter unsheathed his knife, andplunged it up to the hilt in the heart of his enemy.
When the savage saw that he was lost, he disdained to attempt anyuseless resistance, but fixing upon the Canadian a look of hatred andcontempt, an ironical smile curled his lips, and he awaited death with acalm face.
Belhumeur replaced his knife in his belt, and pushing the body on oneside, said imperturbably,--
"One!"
And he crept on again.
Loyal Heart had watched the movements of his friend with the greatestattention, ready to succour him if it were necessary; when the Indianwas dead, he calmly took up the trail again.
Ere long the light of a fire gleamed between the trees and an odour ofroasted flesh struck the keen smell of the hunters.
They drew themselves up like two phantoms along an enormous cork tree,which was within a few paces of them, and embracing the gnarled trunk,concealed themselves among the tufted branches.
Then they looked out, and found that they were, it might be said,soaring over the camp of the Comanches, situated within ten yards ofthem, at most.