CHAPTER XXXIV.
THE CANOE.
It certainly was remarkable that when Fred Linden was watching the threeWinnebagos so closely, and when, as I have said, he noticed more thanone trifling matter, that he failed to recognize the animals they wereriding. All three were familiar to him, and the one he had spoken of asbeing darker in color than the others, and as having a star in hisforehead, was the identical animal owned by his father. Fred, himself,had ridden him more than once.
It should be said, however, that they were the pack-horses, which evenwhen put to their best paces, could not make good speed. Nevertheless,they were of great value to the hunters.
The first conviction of the lad on awaking to the alarming fact, wasthat his father and the other two men had been killed by theWinnebagos. The thought overcame him so that he leaned against thenearest tree and was on the point of fainting.
"They are all dead, Terry--I know it--we may as well give up, and try toreach home."
Terry was agitated, but not so much so as his friend.
"Why, my dear boy, it's not so bad as _that_," he said feelingly; "do yenot moind that whin the gintlemen go to trappin' and huntin' they turnthe horses loose to graze? The spalpeens have coom along and run offwith the same."
"Do you think so?" asked Fred, looking up yearningly for the grain ofcomfort that his companion was able to give.
"I don't _think_ so; I know so; if the gintlemen took the bastes intothe cabin and slipt with the same ivery night, as me rilatives do withtheir pigs in Ireland, why ye might think that they had suffered beforethe Winnebagos tuk thim away; but they have snaaked up where the animalswas grazin', jumped onto their backs and rid off."
This view of the case was so reasonable, that Fred rallied and halfsmiled at his own faintheartedness. He stood erect and drew a deepbreath of satisfaction.
"I believe you are right, but it strikes me that such thieves would havestolen all instead of half the horses."
"They've lift the ither three for their frinds that I make no doubt willbe along to take thim, if they haven't done so now."
"You know that the loss of a horse is considered almost as bad as theloss of a man in this part of the world."
"Sometimes he amounts to a good deal more, as me mither--"
Terry paused in his remarks, for just then Fred uttered awarning--"_Sh!_" to signify that something was in the path in front. Thenext moment, he ran several paces to the right and sheltered himselfbehind a tree, Terry being only a few seconds behind him.
Both had discovered what it was. A brown bear of moderate size waswaddling along toward them. He had probably struck the trail, andfinding it easier walking than among the trees and undergrowth, wasswinging forward in the direction of the stream that had received such avisit from the cyclone.
The boys could not know for a minute or two whether the beast had seenthem, but they felt no alarm. As I have said, he was not very large norformidable looking, and, if he chose to turn aside to attack them, theywere more than his equal. As it was, their own eagerness to get forwardwas all that prevented them from shooting him.
Bruin lumbered ahead in his awkward way, and, as the boys peeped forth,they fancied that his big brown eyes glanced mischievously at them; butthey were mistaken. He did not see nor scent them, but went by, and, ina few minutes, disappeared from sight among the trees.
Hardly waiting till he had vanished, the youths stepped back into thepath and resumed the rapid pace at which they had been traveling. Thesun, that had been partly shining from behind the clouds, was low in thesky, and it was not long before they were journeying in the twilight.The moon rose early, but its light was so much obscured by the miststhat it gave little if any help, and the friends were disappointed tofind it difficult to make any progress at all.
At this trying juncture, they found themselves once more on the bank ofa stream that had to be crossed before they could go any further. It wasfully double the width of the one last passed, but did not look as if itwas deep.
"My clothes ain't all dry yit," said Terry, "and I'm in favor of wadin'if we can."
"I am afraid it is too deep for that, and with our guns and bundles andthick clothes it isn't an easy thing to swim. Besides it's colder thanit was last night and it won't be pleasant to spend a few more hours inwet clothing: mine is about dry."
Fred added that if they should decide to push on, the only way of doingso was by the usual means of a raft. It would take considerable time tobuild one, and probably still longer to work their way to the otherside.
"No use of waitin'," said Terry; "let's take hold; I've an idaa that weain't far from the cabin and ivery mile that we can make now counts."
Fred started to give his help, when to his unbounded amazement, henarrowly missed going headlong over a small Indian canoe that lay attheir feet. They would not have been more surprised had they come uponDeerfoot himself in a sound slumber, and not until they had stooped downand examined it closely were they certain that it was not some logfantastically shaped by nature that had floated thither.
But an Indian canoe it was beyond all mistake, though after searchingall around it, they failed to find the paddle so necessary for itspropulsion. The boat had been drawn up the bank, underneath some bushesand undergrowth, where it would not have been seen by any one furtheroff than six feet. It was so far back too from the stream that it wouldrequire an unusual overflow to carry it away.
It was not so dark that the lads could not see that it was of beautifulpattern and fine make--one of those delicate vessels which under theskillful guidance of its owner skim like a swallow over the water. Itwas a prize indeed.
Now, as you very well know, there is nothing wonderful about an Indiancanoe, but the astonishment of the boys came from the fact that theyfound it in this place. Fred Linden, in listening to the accounts givenby his father on his return in the spring from his trapping expeditions,had heard him say more than once that there was no Indian villagebetween Greville and the camp at the foot of the Ozarks, and that,according to the friendly red men who occasionally visited them, hebelieved that the nearest lodge lay nearly two hundred miles to thenorth-west of Greville. It was this fact that gave the Hunters of theOzark so much confidence in themselves when they went on their longhunts, though, as you have learned, danger did sometimes come from thewandering Indians, the father of Terry Clark having lost his life attheir hands.
All this being known to the boys, they had cause to wonder how it wasthat an Indian canoe lay hidden under the bushes on the shore. None ofthose people would go to the trouble of making such a boat, unless heexpected to use it many times. It would be the same as if you had acostly rowboat constructed with which to cross only once a canal orsmall stream of water.
But, as in many other cases, it was idle to speculate, and the boys didnot allow any feeling of surprise to rob them of the valuable minutes.Finding no paddle with which to manage the boat, Fred cut a smallsapling and trimmed it so that he had a pole fully twenty feet long.Then the guns were laid in the bottom, Terry took his seat, and theycarefully pushed from shore, Fred managing the pole.
As they suspected, the water was quite shallow, the depth nowhere beingmore than three or four feet; but the current was rapid, and in someplaces the bottom of the canoe grated over the gravel. Both had to movewell to the stern to raise the bow, so as to allow them to reach landwith dry feet.
"It's a pity to allow this to float off and be lost," said Fred; "let'sdraw it up the bank where the owner won't have any trouble in findingit."
"I would give a good deal if I could be introduced to that samegintleman," remarked Terry, who took off his cap and scratched his headas he added:
"I wonder whither that is one of the canoes from near home?"
"What are you talking about? How could it get _here_?"
"By some subterranean communication, the same as we boys used to sindnotes to the gurls whin I was laarnin' the higher mathematics incollege."
Fred made no comment upon t
he remark of his friend. The canoe, whenrelieved of their weight, was so light that the bow was pulled to theshore by means of the pole. Then Fred alone drew it up beyond the reachof the water, and it was left until the owner should come forward toclaim it.
The two now set out to hunt for the trail, with a view of making eightor ten miles more before they stopped to rest; but the result wasdiscouraging. It took more than a half hour to make sure they had foundit, and then they had not gone twenty yards, when Fred said he couldnot tell whether he was in the path or not.
"It's no use," he added; "we may as well stop, for we are sure to repeatthe mistake of to-day: we'll get so far wrong that it'll take many hoursto find our way back again, and we shall lose far more than we gain."
"That bein' the same--and I'm willin' to agraa that ye are now strivin'to till the truth--let's turn off from the trail, go back so far thatthere isn't any chance for any one to saa us and slaap till mornin'."
Since there was nothing else to do, the boys did as Terry proposed. Theywere not so tired as they were the night before, and they did not dareto lie down on the leaves and sleep as they did then. There were wildanimals prowling through the woods, and the fact that the lads escapedonce could be no guaranty that they would have equally good fortune asecond time.
Terry proposed that they should climb a tree and make a bed among thebranches; but that was hardly feasible. It is not often that the limbsof a tree are accommodating enough to allow any one to rest withcomfort. The branches may be pleasant for a time, but the limbs soonbecome like iron rods and the position so cramped as to drive away allcomfort. In addition, there was the danger of a fatal fall during sleep.
So it was decided to hunt out the most secluded place possible and starta fire. That would keep off the wild animals, and the boys were not insuch need of sleep that they could not afford to take turns with eachother in watching through the night.
While hunting a suitable spot, they moved down the river bank for fullya hundred yards, and then entered some dense undergrowth which theypenetrated until they were sure that no safer place could be found. Sothey began gathering twigs, leaves and branches, and piling them againstthe shaggy bark of a tree, and soon had all they wanted. This was firedby means of the flint and steel, and a roaring, crackling blaze madeevery thing look cheerful.
"Let's walk off a little ways," said Fred, "and see whether the lightcan be noticed very far; you know that we can not be too careful."
Terry liked the proposal, and rose to act upon it. They moved inopposite directions, walking several rods, and then carefully passingentirely around the camp-fire. The result was satisfactory, for theundergrowth in all directions was so thick that they felt as secure fromdiscovery as if the fire had been kindled within an impenetrable cave.
And yet they were woefully mistaken, as they were destined to learn in abrief while.