Books: The Lost Trail
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Edward S. Ellis >> The Lost Trail
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"Speak louder!" called Otto, forgetting himself; "vot vasn't dot dot
you didn't say?"
Instantly Deerfoot drew back his head, allowing the bushes to close,
so that he was only partly revealed.
"He is going to shoot!" exclaimed Jack.
Such, it was evident, was the intention of their friend, who brought
his rifle to a level, the black barrel plainly visible as it was
thrust among the branches. Instead of being aimed downwards, it was
pointed at a considerable elevation above the defenders at some
object at the other side of the fort.
Turning their beads, the boys saw, from the agitation in the
branches of a tree, almost large as the oak, that something was
moving among the limbs. The truth flashed upon both. While they
were watching their friend, he had detected an enemy stealing into
the tree behind them, and sought to make known the alarming truth by
means of gesture. Seeing they failed to catch his meaning, he
decided to attend to the matter himself, though it can be understood
that the shot would render his own death almost certain.
"That will never do!" exclaimed the young Kentuckian; "Deerfoot is
too valuable to be sacrificed."
The savage, who was climbing, did so with great care. Now a beaded
moccasin would twinkle alongside the trunk, whisking out of sight
like a frolicking squirrel; then a red feather flashed to sight and
away again, the broad, painted face peeped from behind the tree,
while glimpses of the clothing here and there showed the rate with
which the warrior went upward.
Deerfoot must have seen the savage at the moment he began ascending
the trunk, and could not fail to know his purpose. It was
all-important that the dangerous individual should be "attended to,"
and, observing that his friends were too much absorbed in watching
his movements to remember their own peril, the friendly Shawanoe did
not hesitate to take the frightful risk upon himself.
It may be said that it would be utterly impossible for him to
discharge his gun from the elevation without the other warriors
discovering the fact, though one or two might suspect the weapon was
fired within the enclosure; yet it was characteristic of the youth
that, when the necessity presented itself, he did not hesitate.
But Jack Carleton's presence of mind came to his assistance. He
began such vigorous gestures that the attention of Deerfoot was
caught; without lowering his gun, he glanced downward. He saw Jack
shaking his head from side to side, swinging his hand back and forth
and darting his finger excitedly at the tree on the other side of
the fort.
The quick-witted Shawanoe caught his meaning, and took his gun from
his shoulder. Again he pushed the bushes aside, so that his face
came to view, and, looking down on his friends, smiled, nodded, and
made several gestures toward the other redskin, who was still
cautiously climbing the tree. Then the curtain was drawn again, and
Deerfoot assumed the part of spectator instead of actor.
It is almost incredible that this performance could have taken place
without detection from below; but it came about that, while it was
going on, the attention of the red men was occupied by another
occurrence which will be told at the proper time. The only ones who
showed any interest in Deerfoot and his enemy, steadily making his
way aloft, were the boys within the enclosure.
Accepting the lesson, Jack told Otto in a low voice to keep the
closest watch on all the tree-tops within sight, for it seemed
likely that still more of their enemies would resort to the same
strategy.
"Let there be no mistake about this," he said to his companion; "if
you catch sight of any one else, give him a shot, but I'm to settle
the question with this particular gentleman."
"Dot ish all right," assented Otto; "dot ish, it will be all right
if he ain't all wrong when you hits him."
Jack Carleton made no reply. He was standing with his left foot
thrown slightly forward, his rifle, at his right shoulder, his head
inclined and his left eye, closed. He was following the movements
of the Miami (as he judged him to be), who was seeking a perch from
which to fire down on the defenders of the primitive fort.
It would have been the easiest thing in the world for our friends to
place themselves beyond danger from that particular warrior; they
had only to step a little nearer the eastern wall, when it would
intervene between them and the savage; but Jack grasped the
situation well enough to understand the advantage of impressing
their assailants with the danger of any kind of attack. If the
defenders should busy themselves with dodging the aim of their foes,
the trees were likely to swarm with them, and it would become
impossible to elude their aim.
As before, the climbing Miami afforded occasional glimpses of
himself. Now a moccasin, then a hand, his gun, the black
horse-hair-like covering for his crown, with the painted eagle
feathers, then an instant gleam of the eyes, and then nothing at
all.
Remembering that a wound would be as effective its death itself,
Jack coolly waited the opportune moment. Suddenly he saw the rifle,
arm and shoulder of the warrior, as he flung them partly over a limb
to help draw himself upward. Without a second's delay the youth
fired, his view being much less obstructed than was the care with
his friend in the other tree.
An ear-splitting screech broke the stillness, and the wounded Miami
came tumbling downward as though every possible support had given
way beneath him. To the watchful lads it looked as if he struck
nothing at all in his descent, but fell with the swiftness of a
cannon-ball, until the intervening logs shut him from sight.
"I dinks some dings dropped," said Otto, with a grin; "mebbe he
don't try to fool us some more agin, don't it?"
Jack made no comment, but, as was his rule, reloaded his gun with
utmost haste, dreading all the time a rush from their enemies. It
may be set down as singular that something of the kind did not take
place, since the assailants must have known it could not fail to be
effective.
The sagacious Deerfoot seemed to believe that his position was no
longer tenable, for, instead of staying where he was, he began
descending, apparently in panic of fear, lest he should share the
fate of the other red man. So far as he could, he kept the trunk of
the tree between him and the youthful marksmen until beyond all
danger of being harmed.
Jack saw just enough of the movement to understand its meaning, and
he smiled grimly.
"After doing what you have done, you ought to take the part of
leader and draw off the warriors."
The young Kentuckian stood near the middle of the enclosure glancing
upward in different directions while reloading his piece, for he
understood too well the necessity of unremitting vigilance whenever
the American Indian takes a hand in proceedings.
Otto was not behind him in that respect. He walked softly around
the fort close to the walls, attentively listening for sounds that
would give some knowledge of what was going on outside. At
intervals he stopped and with his knife gouged the wood, where it
seemed thinner than usual, but in every case found the thickness too
great to be pierced.
Just beneath the spot where the butt of the tree rested on the upper
edge of the wall, he stopped Once more and pressed his ear against
the logs. He stood fully a minute, when, without moving his head,
he looked sideways at his friend, who was watching him. The
expression of his face was so significant that Jack knew he had made
a discovery of importance.
"What is it?" he asked.
Otto motioned for him to keep quiet. Jack stepped forward in front
of him.
As Otto was looked at him without speaking, he also pressed his ear
against the logs, with a view of learning what was going on.
Every one knows that wood is a good conductor of sound, and, though
in this case there were several layers of logs through which the
noise passed, the second listener at once suspected the truth.
The scratching of the bark indicated that some one was carefully
climbing up the inclined tree.
"That is to be their next move," muttered. Jack, hastily stepping
back to the centre of the space; "if they make a rush over that
bridge they will be down in a twinkling--"
Otto kept his position, with his ear still glued to the logs, and
not yet certain what the noise meant.
Just as Jack looked upward he saw, to his amazement, the head and
front of the huge black bear coming up the inclined tree with the
intent purpose of entering the interior. It instantly occurred to
the youth that it was the same daring bruin that came so near
attacking them a short while before.
He has used this place as his den and means to return to it; the
Indians have seen him prowling around, and placed the tree so as to
temp him to climb upward on it.
The beast advanced until he could look downward on the couple, and
then, gazing only a second or two, he backed out of sight and
dropped to the ground with a strange, chuckling growl.
At the same instant a feeling of unutterable chagrin came over the
lad who witnessed the maneuver, for, just a breath too late, he
comprehended the shrewd trick by which be had been outwitted.
Confused by the unexpected sight, he failed to note that the
creature was not a bear at all, but a Shawanoe warrior skillfully
disguised as much.
With the skin of one of the beasts gathered over his head and
shoulders, he had made his way up the support, peered at the
defenders, and then withdrawn before the watchful Jack could tumble
him to the earth with the bullet that would have pierced his body
had five seconds more been given in which to aim and fire.
CHAPTER XIII
A MESSAGE
Jack's chagrin was deepened the more he reflected upon the singular
occurrence. Had he been outwitted by some skillfully-executed trick
of the Indians, he would have accepted it as a mishap liable to
overthrow the most experienced ranger of the woods; but he felt he
ought to have known on the instant that no real bear would have
attempted anything of the kind.
There was not a phase of the artifice which was not a reproach to
him. Had the beast used the enclosure as a den or a retreat--a
thing of itself incredible--the evidence of that fact would have
been noticed the moment the boys climbed within. Then the
likelihood of his clambering up the inclined tree in the presence of
a war party of Shawanoes and Miamis, who had laid it for that very
purpose, was too grotesquely absurd to be thought of with patience.
"Maybe it is as well," he said, with an effort to extract some
consolation from the blunder; "for perhaps it will lead them to
repeat 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 me
out as flat as---as--as a big tree itself."
"I don't see why they didn't form a procession of bears and walk
right over among us? We would have stood still and allowed them to
hug us to death."
Admitting the only explanation that presented itself, Jack and Otto
were not yet able fully to account for the proceeding. The labor of
dragging the fallen trunk and lifting the butt to the wall, seemed
too great to suppose it was to be used only to allow one of the
Indians to climb to the top and peer over upon the boys beneath.
The same thing could be accomplished by ascending one of the trees
and avoiding the peril to which some of them had been exposed.
But, beside all that, what in reality was gained by taking a peep at
the youths? The assailants knew they were there, and it could not
matter a jot in what particular manner they were employing
themselves. They could do nothing that could give those on the
outside the slightest concern. It was the defenders whose interests
required the anticipation of the movements of the warriors.
"I can't understand it," said Jack, standing close to his friend and
talking in a low voice.
"So ain't I--harks!"
They listened a full minute, but the silence could not have been
more profound. A gentle wind stirred the leaves overhead, and the
tops of the trees nearest them could be seen slightly swaying
against the clear sky beyond. The murmur of the great forest was
like the voice of silence itself while the almost inaudible murmur
of the Mississippi, sweeping so near, made itself manifest the first
time since they had turned at bay.
The deep quiet was more impressive than the whoops and screeches of
the warriors would have been. Under such circumstances, it boded
mischief, and the utter uncertainty of its nature almost unsettled
the remarkable courage both up to that moment had displayed.
"I hears nodings," added Otto; "I'mebbe don't go to sleep and wait
for the night to come."
"Night is a good many hours off," replied Jack, with an uneasy
glance at the sky, which showed him the sun had not yet reached
meridian; "they can beat any people in the world waiting, when they
have a mind to do so, but there's been no necessity of halting at
all. If they had followed up over the logs it would have been all
ended by this time."
"Yaw; they would have tumbled all over us, like a pig lot of trees
falling 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 and
falls on 'em."
This was Otto's manner of expressing what was inevitable, in case
the besiegers should conclude to wait for the hour, which could not
be very distant, when the defenders must lose all power of
resistance.
The two did not forget to keep a continuous guard over the
"watch-towers" of the enemy. Despite the repulse that had followed
their attempts, it was by no means uncertain that they would not
repeat them. The success of the bear trick was likely to tempt them
to another essay in the same direction.
Otto Relstaub was leaning against the solid logs, his position such
that the sun, which was now near meridian, shone directly upon him.
His friend was almost immediately opposite--the two looking in each
other's face, and exchanging words in low tones.
All at once the German became sensible of something cool just behind
his neck.
"Vot ain't dot?" he said, putting up his hand as though to brush
away some insect. Striking nothing, he turned to look.
"O-oh-oh!" he said, with a wondering expression, and an expansion of
his big, honest eyes.
"There's an opening behind you," remarked his friend, moving hastily
across to where he stood.
"Yaw; I sees him. Where's he been hiding himself when I voon't
looking for him not a little while ago."
It certainly was curious that both boys should have made such a
minute examination of the interior without finding the crevice
between a couple of the logs, large enough to admit the passage of
several bullets, and through which it would have been an easy matter
for their enemies to shoot him who stood immediately in front.
The opening was some six inches wide, and no more than an eighth of
an inch in height, resembling the crevice through which the captain
looks out upon the enemy from the turret of a monitor. The fact
that the red men had made no use of it was proof they did not
suspect its existence, though that did not lessen the wonder of Otto
that he had failed to find it himself, when making search.
"I see!" suddenly exclaimed Jack, who was attentively examining the
place. "No wonder you missed it, for it was closed up. You must
have rubbed one of your long ears against the stick which fits it so
closely."
The piece with which it had been closed lay on the ground, at the
feet of the boys, and made clear why they had failed to find that
for which they had hunted so carefully.
Jack cut the stick apart with his knife and reinserted one half with
a view of rendering it less liable to attract the notice of the
besiegers. Then, quite sure that it was still unknown to them, he
leaned 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 took
a survey of his surroundings.
It so happened that he stood nearly under the tree which leaned
against the wall, and thus gained a good view. He certainly saw
enough to interest the most indifferent spectator. Five painted
Indian warriors were seen standing around what seemed to be a
dancing bear, who was gesticulating with his fore paws. Suddenly he
cast off the shaggy hide and revealed the redskin who bad made the
audacious ascent on the log in his disguise and peeped over on the
boys below.
He seemed to be talking with his friends, while the whole half dozen
were gesticulating with great energy, though, in spite of their
excitement, their words were spoken so low that our friends could
hear little more than the jumbling murmur of their voices.
No doubt more Indians were close at hand, but Jack saw none. He
stealthily removed the other part of the stick, and thereby widened
his view considerably, but he still failed to discover anything
more. His vision took in the tree up which Deerfoot had climbed,
but nothing was to be observed of him, or of any others gathered
around the base.
Convinced that they were on the other side of the fort, Jack gave
his whole attention to those before him.
It looked very much as if the author of the trick described was
regaling his friends with an account of the highly successful manner
in which he had played his points on the unsuspecting parties within
the enclosure.
Jack was convinced that the rifle-shot which he and his friend
heard, before rushing into the refuge, was the one that slew the
bear. The Indians had hastily skinned the animal, probably
completing the task near the time they became aware of the presence
or rather the flight of the two boys. They had united in the
pursuit, taking the bear-skin with them, and its use in the, manner
described was suggested by the prostrate tree lying so close to the
logs, though even that theory failed fully to satisfy the questions
of the youth.
Another interesting discovery was that he had seen two of the
Shawanoes before. He had no difficulty in recognizing them as those
who had shown such eagerness to follow the trail of the hunter that
had shot the panther some distance back on the path.
The warrior who had masqueraded in the character of a big, black
bear belonged to the Miami tribe, the representatives of the two
joining hands in the crusade against the young pioneers. Neither
the wounded red man nor the one who was past wounding was to be seen
anywhere.
The vigorous and somewhat suppressed conversation among the group
continued a few minutes and then abruptly stopped. The entire party
seemed to have become "talked out" the same instant.
"Now they will hatch up some more mischief," was the thought of the
watcher. "I don't think it likely they will send that bear up the
tree again. If they do he will come down a little quicker than he
goes up."
The sensations of the young Kentuckian were very peculiar, when he
became aware that the Shawanoe who had displayed so much skill in
hunting for his footprints in the twilight was looking directly
toward him. He seemed in fact to be gazing into the eyes of the
youth, as though he was striving to stare him out of countenance.
Jack would have been glad at that moment had the opening been
hermetically sealed; but, hopeful that he was not seen, he held his
place, not stirring in the slightest, and striving to the utmost to
keep 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 the
half 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 one
of his comrades. Instantly the boy moved to one side and replaced
the rest of the stick, so that the crevice was closed once more.
"There," he exclaimed, with a sigh, "I never was placed in a more
trying situation than that."
"Vot voon't dot?"
Jack quickly told his experience, and his companion shuddered and
shrugged 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 some
new tricks."
"Vot can't them try?"
"The trouble is we cannot guess. You know the Indians are so
cunning that they will think out something--"
Zip!
Both boys started and looked around. Something had entered the
enclosure like a bullet fired from a gun.
"Look!" whispered Jack, pointing to the other side, where an Indian
arrow was seen sticking in the logs, at a point half way between the
ground 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 still
trembling from the force with which it had been driven into the
solid wood.
"They do use guns only," said Jack. "That arrow was fired by
Deerfoot!"
"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.
CHAPTER XIV
THE MANEUVRES OF DEERFOOT
Deerfoot the Shawanoe committed a serious mistake as he himself was
the first to discover, when he upset the Miami warrior into the
Mississippi and made off with his canoe. He had started out to help
his friends, but his course was an injury to them, for it increased
their danger without giving them the least assistance.
What he ought to have done, when he observed the drowsy fisherman,
was to bring the boys to the spot, so that, directly after the red
man was dispossessed, the three could have entered the boat and
hastened across the river. Had he done so, all that which followed
would have be averted.
In referring to the course of the young Shawano the most incredible
statement is that the blunder was altogether due to his waggishness,
because in his eagerness to play a joke upon an enemy, he forgot his
usual caution; but such was the truth.
The warrior, however, was not the one to stay on the western shore
when his friends were in danger. Though he had told them to expect
him back at a certain hour, early in the afternoon, his intention
was to return much earlier. It would have been folly for him to
make for any point near that from which he departed when he set out
from the Kentucky shore. Such a proceeding would be seen by his
enemies, and would invite them to riddle him with bullets as he
approached.
The moment he touched the Louisiana side, he ran under the
overhanging limbs far enough to be out of sight of any who might be
on the watch, and then pushed vigorously up stream. He continued
until he had gone fully a half mile and had rounded quite a bend in
the river. Then he paddled straight across to the other bank, down
which he made his way with the same haste.
He speedily arrived in the vicinity of the lads and prepared, in his
characteristic fashion, to take a hand in their rescue. Hoping that
the chance for flight would speedily come, he carefully drew the
canoe under cover, where he was confident it would not be seen by
any enemies prowling in the vicinity. Then he stealthily plunged
into the wood to give what help he could to his friends.
It took him only a little while to find they were at bay within the
log enclosure and in much greater danger than he first supposed.
The discovery caused a change in his plans. He returned to the
canoe and took out the rifle which he had captured; his bow and,
arrows were not left within the boat, for he valued them too highly
to incur such risk; they were hidden where he knew no one could
possibly steal them away from him. Then the little phial which he
carried in the receptacle with his Bible was uncorked and the
crimson paint applied with his forefinger to his face. The
ornamentation was as fantastical as the imagination of the native
American could make it.
Viewed for the first time by those who did not know him, he would
have been classed as one of the fiercest warriors that ever went on
the war trail. Had he been a pagan instead of a Christian, the idea
would have been a correct one.
But Deerfoot was handicapped from the first by the fact that he was
known to more than one of the party. It may be said that at that
day there was scarcely a Shawanoe east of the Mississippi who had
not heard of the execrated friend of the white men. They knew that
his favorite weapons, beside his knife and tomahawk, were his bow
and arrows; that his skill with them approached the marvelous; they
knew that his fleetness surpassed that of any living person that he
possessed a form and features of rare beauty; that his courage was
surpassed by none, for, when but a stripling, he had handed a knife
to the furious Tecumseh, and dared him to fight unto the death, and
that his cunning and subtlety were beyond the reach of the ordinary
warrior.
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