CHAPTER XIII
A MESSAGE
Jack's chagrin was deepened the more he reflected upon the singularoccurrence. Had he been outwitted by some skillfully-executed trickof the Indians, he would have accepted it as a mishap liable tooverthrow the most experienced ranger of the woods; but he felt heought to have known on the instant that no real bear would haveattempted anything of the kind.
There was not a phase of the artifice which was not a reproach tohim. Had the beast used the enclosure as a den or a retreat--athing of itself incredible--the evidence of that fact would havebeen noticed the moment the boys climbed within. Then thelikelihood of his clambering up the inclined tree in the presence ofa war party of Shawanoes and Miamis, who had laid it for that verypurpose, was too grotesquely absurd to be thought of with patience.
"Maybe it is as well," he said, with an effort to extract someconsolation from the blunder; "for perhaps it will lead them torepeat the trick."
"Mine gracious! why didn't he drop down onto mine bead?" said Otto,stepping hastily away from his position; "he would have mashed meout as flat as---as--as a big tree itself."
"I don't see why they didn't form a procession of bears and walkright over among us? We would have stood still and allowed them tohug us to death."
Admitting the only explanation that presented itself, Jack and Ottowere not yet able fully to account for the proceeding. The labor ofdragging the fallen trunk and lifting the butt to the wall, seemedtoo great to suppose it was to be used only to allow one of theIndians to climb to the top and peer over upon the boys beneath.The same thing could be accomplished by ascending one of the treesand avoiding the peril to which some of them had been exposed.
But, beside all that, what in reality was gained by taking a peep atthe youths? The assailants knew they were there, and it could notmatter a jot in what particular manner they were employingthemselves. They could do nothing that could give those on theoutside the slightest concern. It was the defenders whose interestsrequired the anticipation of the movements of the warriors.
"I can't understand it," said Jack, standing close to his friend andtalking in a low voice.
"So ain't I--harks!"
They listened a full minute, but the silence could not have beenmore profound. A gentle wind stirred the leaves overhead, and thetops of the trees nearest them could be seen slightly swayingagainst the clear sky beyond. The murmur of the great forest waslike the voice of silence itself while the almost inaudible murmurof the Mississippi, sweeping so near, made itself manifest the firsttime since they had turned at bay.
The deep quiet was more impressive than the whoops and screeches ofthe warriors would have been. Under such circumstances, it bodedmischief, and the utter uncertainty of its nature almost unsettledthe remarkable courage both up to that moment had displayed.
"I hears nodings," added Otto; "I'mebbe don't go to sleep and waitfor the night to come."
"Night is a good many hours off," replied Jack, with an uneasyglance at the sky, which showed him the sun had not yet reachedmeridian; "they can beat any people in the world waiting, when theyhave a mind to do so, but there's been no necessity of halting atall. If they had followed up over the logs it would have been allended by this time."
"Yaw; they would have tumbled all over us, like a pig lot of treesfalling down, but now I dinks they waits."
"Why will they do that?"
"If dey climbs over like as dey didn't does, don somepody git hurt,but if dey holds on till night den we'll have to climb over andfalls on 'em."
This was Otto's manner of expressing what was inevitable, in casethe besiegers should conclude to wait for the hour, which could notbe very distant, when the defenders must lose all power ofresistance.
The two did not forget to keep a continuous guard over the"watch-towers" of the enemy. Despite the repulse that had followedtheir attempts, it was by no means uncertain that they would notrepeat them. The success of the bear trick was likely to tempt themto another essay in the same direction.
Otto Relstaub was leaning against the solid logs, his position suchthat the sun, which was now near meridian, shone directly upon him.His friend was almost immediately opposite--the two looking in eachother's face, and exchanging words in low tones.
All at once the German became sensible of something cool just behindhis neck.
"Vot ain't dot?" he said, putting up his hand as though to brushaway some insect. Striking nothing, he turned to look.
"O-oh-oh!" he said, with a wondering expression, and an expansion ofhis big, honest eyes.
"There's an opening behind you," remarked his friend, moving hastilyacross to where he stood.
"Yaw; I sees him. Where's he been hiding himself when I voon'tlooking for him not a little while ago."
It certainly was curious that both boys should have made such aminute examination of the interior without finding the crevicebetween a couple of the logs, large enough to admit the passage ofseveral bullets, and through which it would have been an easy matterfor their enemies to shoot him who stood immediately in front.
The opening was some six inches wide, and no more than an eighth ofan inch in height, resembling the crevice through which the captainlooks out upon the enemy from the turret of a monitor. The factthat the red men had made no use of it was proof they did notsuspect its existence, though that did not lessen the wonder of Ottothat he had failed to find it himself, when making search.
"I see!" suddenly exclaimed Jack, who was attentively examining theplace. "No wonder you missed it, for it was closed up. You musthave rubbed one of your long ears against the stick which fits it soclosely."
The piece with which it had been closed lay on the ground, at thefeet of the boys, and made clear why they had failed to find thatfor which they had hunted so carefully.
Jack cut the stick apart with his knife and reinserted one half witha view of rendering it less liable to attract the notice of thebesiegers. Then, quite sure that it was still unknown to them, heleaned forward with his eye to the opening.
"While I'm peeping here keep a lookout elsewhere, Otto."
His friend nodded, to signify he would be obeyed, and then Jack tooka survey of his surroundings.
It so happened that he stood nearly under the tree which leanedagainst the wall, and thus gained a good view. He certainly sawenough to interest the most indifferent spectator. Five paintedIndian warriors were seen standing around what seemed to be adancing bear, who was gesticulating with his fore paws. Suddenly hecast off the shaggy hide and revealed the redskin who bad made theaudacious ascent on the log in his disguise and peeped over on theboys below.
He seemed to be talking with his friends, while the whole half dozenwere gesticulating with great energy, though, in spite of theirexcitement, their words were spoken so low that our friends couldhear little more than the jumbling murmur of their voices.
No doubt more Indians were close at hand, but Jack saw none. Hestealthily removed the other part of the stick, and thereby widenedhis view considerably, but he still failed to discover anythingmore. His vision took in the tree up which Deerfoot had climbed,but nothing was to be observed of him, or of any others gatheredaround the base.
Convinced that they were on the other side of the fort, Jack gavehis whole attention to those before him.
It looked very much as if the author of the trick described wasregaling his friends with an account of the highly successful mannerin which he had played his points on the unsuspecting parties withinthe enclosure.
Jack was convinced that the rifle-shot which he and his friendheard, before rushing into the refuge, was the one that slew thebear. The Indians had hastily skinned the animal, probablycompleting the task near the time they became aware of the presenceor rather the flight of the two boys. They had united in thepursuit, taking the bear-skin with them, and its use in the mannerdescribed was suggested by the prostrate tree lying so close to thelogs, though even that theory failed fully to satisfy the que
stionsof the youth.
Another interesting discovery was that he had seen two of theShawanoes before. He had no difficulty in recognizing them as thosewho had shown such eagerness to follow the trail of the hunter thathad shot the panther some distance back on the path.
The warrior who had masqueraded in the character of a big, blackbear belonged to the Miami tribe, the representatives of the twojoining hands in the crusade against the young pioneers. Neitherthe wounded red man nor the one who was past wounding was to be seenanywhere.
The vigorous and somewhat suppressed conversation among the groupcontinued a few minutes and then abruptly stopped. The entire partyseemed to have become "talked out" the same instant.
"Now they will hatch up some more mischief," was the thought of thewatcher. "I don't think it likely they will send that bear up thetree again. If they do he will come down a little quicker than hegoes up."
The sensations of the young Kentuckian were very peculiar, when hebecame aware that the Shawanoe who had displayed so much skill inhunting for his footprints in the twilight was looking directlytoward him. He seemed in fact to be gazing into the eyes of theyouth, as though he was striving to stare him out of countenance.
Jack would have been glad at that moment had the opening beenhermetically sealed; but, hopeful that he was not seen, he held hisplace, not stirring in the slightest, and striving to the utmost tokeep from winking his eyes.
The singular tableau lasted much less time than the boy imagined.All at once the hum of conversation was renewed, every one of thehalf dozen seeming to be seized with the impulse at the same moment.He who had been gazing so steadily at Jack looked in the face of oneof his comrades. Instantly the boy moved to one side and replacedthe rest of the stick, so that the crevice was closed once more.
"There," he exclaimed, with a sigh, "I never was placed in a moretrying situation than that."
"Vot voon't dot?"
Jack quickly told his experience, and his companion shuddered andshrugged his shoulders in sympathy.
"Have you seen any of them among the trees?"
"No. They vill not go to roost, I dinks, till the sun comes down."
"It won't do to calculate on that. If they wait they will try somenew tricks."
"Vot can't them try?"
"The trouble is we cannot guess. You know the Indians are socunning that they will think out something--"
Zip!
Both boys started and looked around. Something had entered theenclosure like a bullet fired from a gun.
"Look!" whispered Jack, pointing to the other side, where an Indianarrow was seen sticking in the logs, at a point half way between theground and the top.
"I dinks they used guns and not arrows," said the astonished, Otto,standing motionless and staring at the missile, whose barb was stilltrembling from the force with which it had been driven into thesolid wood.
"They do use guns only," said Jack. "That arrow was fired byDeerfoot!"
"Dere is one piece of paper tied around mit it."
"It is a message from Deerfoot!" said Jack, stepping forward and,with considerable effort, drawing forth the arrow.