CHAPTER XXII.
AN ENCOUNTER WITH “BLOODS.”
The Indians appeared to be in no hurry, and from the fact that thecarcass of a deer lay across the back of one of their ponies Ralphjudged that they were a hunting party. But the appraising glances thatthey cast at the tethered ponies were by no means reassuring.
They looked about them cautiously for a time, and exchanged some hastywords in their guttural dialect. Then the one who wore the odd-lookingfrock coat and the eagle feather slipped from his pony and approachedthose that were tied.
It was high time to interfere apparently; but still Ralph hung back.Unarmed as he was, he was unwilling to show himself until actualnecessity called for it. But when the frock-coated Indian deliberatelybegan to unknot the tie ropes of their ponies his intention was onlytoo plain and the boy cast all prudence aside.
“Hey, you, let go of that pony!” he exclaimed, coming out from theshelter of the alders.
The Indian started and turned, and his two companions did the same.For a minute they were considerably startled, for “red coats” (mountedpolice) occasionally rode through that part of the country.
But when they saw that it was only a boy who faced them, they quicklyrecovered their composure.
“Hullo, white boy,” said the one that appeared to be the leader,speaking a dialect that cannot be reproduced on paper. “Hullo, whiteboy, what you want, eh?”
“I want you to leave those ponies alone,” spoke back Ralph boldly,“they belong to me and my partner.”
“That so, eh? Well, we take them ’long small piece, savee?”
The rascal coolly bent over the rope and went on unfastening it. Ralphwas, for a minute, at a loss what to do. Then he bethought himself ofJim in the cave.
“Jim! oh, Jim!” he cried shrilly.
“Hullo,” came a hearty voice in reply, “what’s up?”
“Some rascals are stealing----” began Ralph, when one of the mountedBloods slipped swiftly from his pony and, before the boy could utter another syllable, grasped him by the throat. Ralph was a powerful boy,but in the hands of the wiry, muscular Blood he was no more than aninfant The man drew an ugly looking knife.
“You keep quiet, eh? Me plentee stickee you, you make any morechac-chac (talk).”
Whether the Indian would really have carried out his threat or notRalph had no means of guessing, but he deemed it most prudent underthe circumstances to obey. The Indian smelled most abominably ofliquor, and was evidently in no docile mood. A sort of recklessdeviltry danced in his eyes that warned Ralph not to cross him.
But the next instant, to his unspeakable relief, he heard Jim’s voiceagain.
“I’m trying to climb up the rock. I’ll be there in a jiffy. Confoundit, but it’s slippery!”
Of course Ralph could not reply, but the words cheered him. If Jimwould only appear with his rifle maybe he could scare the Bloods off.In an agony of impatience he waited. Luckily the rain had wetted theknots so that they were hard to untie and the Blood leader was having alot of trouble with them.
Suddenly Ralph heard a sharp cry from the Indian that still remainedon horseback. The one that was bending over the knots heard theexclamation and glanced up, as did the one that was threatening Ralph.The boy, too, looked around and soon saw what had alarmed them.
Creeping into the clearing were two immense, tawny forms. The femalecougar had returned with her mate!
The Indians gave a series of sharp cries, and the one that held Ralphreleased his hold and ran for his pony. So did the one that had beenbent on stealing the white men’s mounts.
Lashing the ground with their tails the lions began to give utteranceto a sort of whining snarl.
This was answered from within the cave by a chorus of mewings andsqueals from the cubs. The sound of her young appeared to drive thelioness to fury. She leaped full at the nearest Indian, and landed onthe haunches of his terrified pony.
One of the others snatched a rifle from his saddle and fired at theanimal, but before he could aim properly the male cougar had attackedhim, and the bullet went wild. Evidently the lions thought the Indianswere responsible for keeping them from their cubs.
The rifle was an old, single-barrelled one, and having fired the oneshot the Indian had no chance to reload. But as the bullet sang by her,the lioness had relaxed her hold on the terrified pony’s haunches andslipped to the ground to face this new antagonist. Ralph gazed on withfascinated horror. The scene was unreal, fantastic almost. The threeIndians, an instant before bent on thievery, were now fighting fortheir lives against two creatures urged to fury by the most powerfulmotive known to the animal kingdom--the love of their young.
“Cheysoyo tamya!” cried the one with the eagle feather, and, urgingtheir ponies to mad flight, the Indians made off at top speed. Thelions made two or three bounds after them, but then stopped to listento the appealing cries of the cubs inside the cave.
They were a badly embarrassed pair of felines. Evidently the manner inwhich the cave had been sealed up during their absence was a mystery tothem. They walked about in front of it sniffing, growling and lashingtheir tails like gigantic cats in a rage. Dangerous as his positionwas, Ralph could not but admire the restless grace of the tawnycreatures with their smooth, yellowish coats and great green savageeyes.
Suddenly, and without any particular reason that Ralph could see,although they had undoubtedly smelled him, the two cougars camebounding toward the alder thicket into which he had crouched back whenfirst they appeared. Ralph’s heart almost stopped beating as they came.He looked toward the cave despairingly.
As he gazed he saw Jim’s rugged face appear in the crack above therock. The mountaineer took in the scene instantly, and, although hecould not see Ralph, he called to him.
“Come on the rock, boy! I’ll hold them back.”
Ralph saw the muzzle of Jim’s rifle gleam in the afternoon sun as hethrust it through the crack and sighted with his keen eyes along thebarrel.
Instantly his mind was made up as to what he would do. As the lionsdived into the alders not far from him he dashed out and made for therock. In the meantime the tethered ponies were plunging and rearing asif they would break their ropes. But the lions paid no attention tothem. Apparently they were only seeking those who had invaded their den.
As Ralph made his dart for safety the lions spied him. With crashingbounds they came out of the underbrush.
Ralph felt a bullet whiz by his ear, but he heard no howl to tell thatone of the lions had been hit. Instead, came Jim’s voice from above.
“Oh, Lord! This plagued rock juts out too far for me to aim down on’em.”
“Throw me down the rifle, quick!” cried Ralph, an agony in his voice.
He knew he could not clamber up the rock in time to avoid the lions’claws. His one chance lay in the desperate plan he had formed as Jim’sexclamation came to his ears.
Jim let the rifle come sliding and clattering down the rock and Ralphcaught it up. The strange noise of the weapon as it came to the groundafter the startling report halted the lions for an instant. But as heturned to face them Ralph saw that they were all ready for anotherattack.
He bravely prepared to meet it, although his pulses throbbed and hisbreath came so fast that he could hardly hold the rifle in the properposition.