CHAPTER XXX
INTO THE NIAGARA RAPIDS
For the moment it looked as if poor Henry's last moment on earth hadcome and the young soldier closed his eyes to meet the fate he thoughtcould not be averted.
"Back with you!" came a cry from Dave, and making a wild leap forward,he swung his clubbed musket at the French soldier's head. The blow,however, merely grazed the enemy's cap, which fell upon the forestsward. Then the Frenchman drew back and made another desperate lungeforward.
He swung his clubbed musket at the French soldier'shead.]
At that instant a rifle report rang out. Sam Barringford, who had justreloaded his weapon, had seen Henry go down and was as quick to act asDave had been. He was in such a position that he could not get a fullview of the Frenchman but he could see the extended arms and the gunwith the bayonet, and he fired at these.
His aim was true, and with a howl of pain, as the bullet cracked hiselbow joint, the enemy dropped the weapon just as the bayonet point wasentering the cloth of Henry's jacket. Then, finding himself wounded anddefenseless, the Frenchman lost no time in retreating and was soon lostto sight behind the trees.
Now was no time to thank Barringford for what he had done, for thefighting still continued on every side. Dave helped his cousin to hisfeet, and soon the pair, with the faithful old frontiersman, were againin the thick of the fray. The forest was heavy with gun smoke so that inspots but little could be seen, and more than once it happened that oneside or the other fired into the ranks of its friends.
Inside of quarter of an hour our friends found themselves in somethingof an open spot bordering the river, at a point where the rapids rushedfuriously along the rocks on their way to the lake. Here, as they weremoving forward, to join a body of English soldiers fifty yards away,they were suddenly confronted by a body of Iroquois who came upon themuttering the most horrible war-cries the youths had ever heard, andbrandishing their tomahawks and scalping knives.
"On yer guard thar!" came from Barringford. "They air after ushot-footed now!"
He swung around, and as the nearest Iroquois came within a dozen stepsof him, he let the savage have the contents of his gun full in thebreast, killing him instantly. Then the boys also fired, wounding twoothers. This halted the Indians for the moment, but quickly recovering,they darted forward with increased fury, bent upon adding the scalps ofthe three whites to their belts ere the battle should come to an end.
It was Dave who found himself the first attacked. A tall Iroquois,straight as an arrow, leaped upon him and tried to stab him with ahunting knife. The young soldier warded off the blow, with his gun, andin a trice the pair were locked in each other's arms and swaying backand forth over the rocks. The Indian muttered something between his setteeth, but Dave did not understand what was said.
Henry and Barringford were also attacked, so they could do nothing fortheir companion. The Iroquois were ten strong, and soon it looked as ifall our friends would undoubtedly be killed and scalped.
The Indian who had attacked Dave had made a desperate clutch at theyoung soldier's throat. But Dave had caught the wrist so quickly thrustforth, and now the two were fighting with one arm of each thrust out andup and the other wound tightly about the enemy's neck. Thus they swayedback and forth, each doing his best to force an advantage and eachfailing. Both looked about, thinking that possible assistance might beat hand, but all the others engaged in the combat were too busy tonotice them.
Slowly but surely the pair drew closer to the edge of the river, whichat this point was some fifteen or twenty feet below the ledge of rockupon which the combat was occurring. In the stream the rapids swirledand boiled in every direction, occasionally sending a shower of spray upto their very feet. The dampness made the rocks slippery and both hadall they could do to retain their footing.
At last Dave seemed to obtain a slight advantage. The Indian relaxed hisvigor for just a moment and in that fraction of time the young soldiercaught him by the throat and gave him such a squeeze that the redman'swindpipe was well-nigh dislocated.
At this the Indian uttered a grunt and began to back away, but stillretained his grip on Dave. This brought the pair closer than ever to theedge of the rocks.
"Look out!" came a sudden cry from Henry, who happened to see themovement. "Dave! Dave! Look out!"
Dave heard the cry, but was powerless to heed it. At the very edge therocks were worn smooth, and of a sudden the Indian slid backwarddragging the young soldier with him! Over went both, into the flyingspray, to disappear a moment later beneath the surface of the fiercelyrunning rapids.
Henry saw the fall and his heart leaped into his throat, for he feltthat it could mean but one thing for his cousin, and that death. Buteven had he been able to do anything, which was doubtful, he was givenno chance, for now the advancing Iroquois surrounded him and Barringfordupon every side.
The scene to follow was one which it would be hard for pen to describe.Feeling that it might be his last stand on earth, Barringford's wholewill-power arose to the occasion, and once again he was the verypersonification of reckless courage, just as he had been when theIndians had attacked the trading post on the Kinotah. With clubbedmusket he whirled around from right to left and left to right so quicklythat the human eye could scarcely follow him.
"Come on, ye red sarpints o' the woods!" he yelled. "Come on, an' I'llshow ye the real trick o' fightin'! Ye don't know what a roarin',blusterin' hurricane ole Sam Barringford is when he's woke up, do ye?Thar's one fer ye, an' thar's another, an' another! Cut me loose, willye! I'll show what a generwine ole Injun fighter kin do! Yer nuthin''tall but a lot of measly pappoose, thet's wot ye be, an' don't yer gofer to wake up sech a roarin' mountain painter as me!"
Barringford had just brought down his third Indian and was still at it,with Henry lending all the aid possible, when there came a suddenwar-cry from the woods to the north of the opening. It was the cry ofIndians friendly to the English, and scarcely had it ended when WhiteBuffalo burst into view, followed by a number of his braves.
A glance told the chief what was happening, and without delay he leapedin to aid our friends, and in a moment more the redmen on both sideswere having a battle as warm as the one just ended. But the Iroquois hadsuffered about all they could stand, and soon those that were able tomove were in full retreat, while the others were just as speedilydispatched and scalped by the redmen who had put them to flight.
As soon as he was at liberty to do so, Henry approached the edge of therocks, to ascertain, if possible, what had become of his cousin. Here,while he was peering eagerly down into the rapids and flying spray,Barringford joined him. Both were suffering from several small woundsfrom which the blood flowed freely, but to these hurts they, just then,paid no attention.
"Whar's Dave?" was the frontiersman's question, as he proceeded toreload his rifle.
"Why, didn't you see him, Sam? He and a redskin had each other by thethroat and both went over into the river."
"Gollywhoppers, Henry, you don't mean it! When was thet?"
"Just before White Buffalo and his braves came up."
"And they went over right here?"
"Yes."
Barringford peered sharply down the stream for nearly half a minute,while Henry did the same.
"Don't see no sight of 'em; do you?" he said, slowly.
"No." Henry drew a long breath and shuddered. "Oh, Sam, I--I hope Daveisn't drowned!"
At this the backwoodsman shrugged his shoulders.
"So do I hope it, lad. But war is war ye must remember, an' we can'texpect to kill the enemy right along an' hev nuthin' happen to us."
"Yes, but--" Henry could not finish because of the lump which came up inhis throat. "I'm going to follow the river and see if I can't find outthe truth," he blurted out at length.
"Sure. Come on."
The fighting now seemed to be at an end in that neighborhood, andalthough they could hear gun-shots in the direction of the falls, andfurther to the southward, not a Frenc
h soldier or an unfriendly Indianremained in sight.
For the day had been irretrievably lost to the enemy, and with onehundred and fifty of the French and Indians killed, and over one hundredFrench taken prisoners, the remainder of the attacking force had fled inwild confusion past the falls and upper rapids to where lay the boatswhich had brought them down from Lake Erie. Into these boats theytumbled with all possible speed and sped in the direction whence theyhad come. They were followed by some of the English and by Indians, whoran along the shore for a distance of half a mile, shooting down everyenemy who could be reached by bullet or arrow.