CHAPTER XV
"TALL OAKS FROM LITTLE ACORNS GROW"
Jack Carleton walked across the slight space that separated him fromthe arrow, quivering in the log on the opposite side of theenclosure. He knew that it had come from the bow of the youngShawanoe, who displayed his extraordinary skill by sending it atsuch an elevation that it passed over the heads of his friends.
"It is a message from Deerfoot," repeated the Kentuckian, as he drewout the missile and unwrapped the paper wound around it. "Let ussee what he has to say."
The paper being unfolded, showed the following words in the smallbut graceful hand of the Shawanoe:
"Let my brothers listen! They will hear one gun; they will hearanother, and then will sound a third! Let them listen closer, forthey are meant for their ears! Then will come shouts and the soundof a gun the fourth time! Let my brothers climb over the logs andrun as fast as they can to the river. Close by the ash that lieswith its limbs in the water, they will find the canoe; they mustmake haste to paddle across or it will be too late. They must notwait for Deerfoot. He will take care of himself. Let my brotherslisten and be not slow."
"There's no trouble to understand what he means," said Jack, afterreading the words aloud.
"What ish it dot he does?" asked Otto, not quite certain as to thepurpose of their dusky ally.
"He means to start a panic. He is going to try to scare the red menso that they will scatter and give us a chance to get away."
The German lad shook his bead.
"Nix. He can't do dot."
"It looks to me like a wild scheme, but as it is the last hope, wemust be ready to give all the help we can, for I don't know of anyone who ought to be more interested than we. Sh! What was that?"
Just then it was so still that the slightest noise made by a fallingfragment of a stick reached their ears. Looking quickly around theysaw that the bit of wood which had been used to close the orificebetween the logs had fallen or had been pushed out and lay on theground. The narrow slit would have shown daylight through it had itnot been closed by altogether a different object or rather series ofobjects; for when the astonished boys contemplated the spot theycaught the gleam of two pairs of eyes peering at them.
The Indians had found the opening and were scrutinizing theinterior. The glitter of the four orbs which filled the crevicecaused most peculiar sensations on the part of the boys who sawthem.
"Ain't you not ashamed mit yourselves!" exclaimed Otto, quicklybringing his gun to his shoulder and firing directly through theopening.
"I teaches you mit better manners."
But, quick as he was, the warriors were quicker, and the darkenedslit became light with the noiseless speed of a twinkling sunbeam.The Indians needed no second intimation of what was coming.
The crisis which followed this shot was more imminent than thedefenders supposed. The assailants had become convinced that theywere throwing away valuable time, and they assembled in a group toconsider the best means of forcing matters to an issue.
It was at that moment that the report of the gun was heard from thedirection of the river. Shawanoe and Miami suspended conversationand, looking inquiringly at each other, listened.
A brief while after, the second shot was heard from another point,followed by a third from still another direction.
"There are strangers in the woods," remarked one of the warriors, ina guarded voice.
"Our brothers have come to look for us."
As suddenly as the crash of a thunderbolt, the Shawanoe war-whoopbroke on the air, followed by what seemed to be the shouts of whitemen.
Then a voice of mortal terror shouted in the same tongue:
"The white men are coming! The white men are coming!"
The sound of hurrying feet was heard, as though a dozen warriorswere fleeing in hot haste from a dreaded foe. The effect intendedby this diversion of Deerfoot promised the brilliant success hehoped rather than expected. One of the savages standing close tothe fallen tree, started with an exclamation and dashed off in anopposite direction from the point whence came the alarming sounds.The effect was contagious: the others followed pell-mell, every oneplunging forward with the frantic desperation which the bravest manwill show in moments of panic.
It need not be said that Jack Carleton and Otto Relstaub listened tothese favorable sounds with breathless interest. They understoodthe stratagem of Deerfoot, and could not feel very hopeful of itssuccess; but the noise of hastily departing warriors thrilled themwith delight.
"They are running!" exclaimed the young Kentuckian, with beamingface; "who would have thought it?"
"I dinks it time dot we vasn't doing the same," said Otto, who,catching the top of the wall with both hands, drew himself upwardand peered over. He was gratified with the sight of the twohindmost warriors just vanishing from sight. The whole party werepanic-stricken.
Otto turned his head to tell the joyful news to his companion, whenhe saw that he had also drawn himself up beside him. The fourthreport of a gun was heard.
"Now is your time," said Jack: "over with you; I'll hand you yourgun."
Otto lost no time in scrambling over, and his feet scarcely touchedthe ground when his rifle whizzed end over end after him. Itrequired all his activity to dodge it, and, while doing so, hereceived a sound thump from the gun of his friend, who seemed to beflinging weapons around with wild recklessness.
One important fact was clear to the boys: the panic of the Indianswas certain to be short-lived. Before fleeing far, they wouldsuspect the trick played on them, and would return with tenfold morefierceness than before.
The hearts of the boys throbbed high with hope when they foundthemselves outside the enclosure which had served them as a prison,and they knew the irrevocable step had been taken; they must now goforward at all hazards.
The Mississippi was near, and thither they made all haste,remembering the instructions of Deerfoot as conveyed through thenote borne to them on the wings of the arrow. Jack, who was thefleeter of foot, kept slightly in advance, though he had no purposeof leaving his friend behind.
"Dot ish one good things as nefer vos," Otto took occasion to say,while panting close behind him: "dere ish not so many of demiblagued vines dot cotches me all de times ven I vos--oh minegracious!"
As is too often the case, the lad rejoiced too soon, for the wordswere yet in his mouth when the very mishap he referred to overtookhim. A running vine became entangled around his ankles, and he wentforward on his hands and knees; but he was not injured, and speedilyrose again.
In spite of their imminent peril, the young Kentuckian could notrepress a smile when he glanced back and saw Otto picking himselfup; but the smile was gone instantly, for the situation was anythingbut a mirthful one.
"Here we are!" called out Jack, halting on the bank of the river andglancing around him. "But where is the canoe?"
"I dinks the first things ish to find the ash tree what ish notlaying up but standing down," suggested Otto, moving along thestream.
It was manifest that the boat could not be found until afterlocating the landmark named by the young Shawanoe; for it wascertain Deerfoot had taken care to hide the canoe where some searchwould be necessary to find it.
But in specifying the fallen tree, Deerfoot gave no idea of where itwas to be found. He must have believed it was so conspicuous thatno direction was required.
During the few seconds that the friends stood irresolute, they usedears as well as eyes. Suddenly the whoop of an Indian was heard abrief distance away.
"My gracious!" whispered Jack; "they're coming back! They havediscovered the trick."
"Dot ish so; let's jump on to de water and swim to de oder side."
The situation was enough to make the bravest nervous, and the sturdyGerman could not repress his impatience. Every second was ofincalculable worth, and yet, knowing they were close to the meanswhich was to take them to safety, they could not seize it.
"No; that won't do," re
plied Jack, resolutely; "they will stand onthe bank and pick us off without trouble to themselves; we must findthe boat."
"But how can't we do dot?"
"You move up the bank and I will hurry down it the canoe cannot befar off; the instant you catch sight of it, whistle, and I'll do thesame if I see it before you."
Otto sprang away with a more anxious expression on his broad, honestface than it wore when he was crouching behind the logs, and theyoung Kentuckian was scarcely less agitated. His feelings weresimilar to those which come to us in sleep, when we see some grislyterror approaching and have no power to flee before it. Somewhere,almost within reach, was the vehicle to carry them out of peril, andyet they could not lay their hands on it.
Jack was resolved, in case the canoe was not speedily found, to doas Otto advised--leap into the Mississippi and swim boldly for theother shore. If they could gain a fair start, they would have causeto hope; but such an attempt, desperate as it was, must beundertaken very soon or not at all.
Again the dreaded whoop reached them from the woods, and the leaderstarted as though he had caught the click of a gun-lock from behinda tree.
The cry was not a loud one, and was no doubt meant as a signal tosome one not far off.
"I wonder where Deerfoot can be," muttered Jack, pushing his wayhurriedly through the underbrush, and glancing in every directionfor the fallen tree which was to show them the craft. "He told usnot to wait for him, but it seems to me he ought to have given ushelp in finding the boat."
Again, and for the third time, the frightful signal trembled amongthe trees close behind him.
"He shan't catch me unprepared, at any rate," muttered the youngKentuckian, raising the hammer of his gun and looking defiantlytoward the point whence came the cry.
The Indian did not show himself, and conscious that he was throwingaway precious seconds, Jack pushed forward once more, keeping watchof his flank as well as his front, for a treacherous shot from theforest would render a canoe altogether useless, so far, at least, asMaster Jack Carleton was concerned.
He was impatient and desperate. There is often a perverseness ininanimate things which is beyond endurance. He had started with thehighest hopes a few minutes before, confident of finding the Indiancanoe without trouble, and now he was baffled and held back when onthe very threshold of safety.
"It is useless to wait," he finally said, coming to an abrupt halt."I will call to Otto and we will swim for it."
But, before he could emit the whistle that had been agreed upon, hisears were set tingling by the identical signal coming from a pointup the bank.
"Thank heaven!" was his exclamation, as he wheeled about and,forgetful of the other signal that had told him of peril, dashedalong the bank of the stream with furious haste.
"Otto has been more fortunate than I," he added, as he boundedforward; "he has found the canoe, and I pray that he has not beentoo late for us to use it."