Tables are frequently turned in this world in more senses than one. As
was said in the last chapter, the romantic pair who were in search of
the Indians did not find those for whom they sought but as fickle
fortune willed it, those for whom they sought found _them_. It happened
thus.
Soon after the Rose of Oregon and her young champion, with their
captors, had passed through the Long Gap, crossed the plain, and entered
the Sawback Hills, they fell in with a band of twenty Indians, who from
their appearance and costume evidently belonged to the same tribe as
their captors. From the manner in which they met also, it seemed that
they had been in search of each other, and had something interesting to
communicate, for they gesticulated much, pointed frequently to the sky,
and to various directions of the compass, chattered excitedly, showed
their brilliant teeth in fitful gleams, and glittered quite awfully
about the eyes.
They paid little attention at first to their prisoners, who remained
sitting on their steeds looking on with interest and some anxiety.
"O Betty, what would I not give to have my arms free just now! What a
chance it would be for a bold dash and a glorious run!"
"You'd make little of it on such rough ground, Tolly."
"Pooh! I'd try it on any ground. Just fancy, I'd begin with a clear
leap over that chief's head--the one there wi' the feathers an' the long
nose that's makin' such hideous faces--then away up the glen, over the
stones, down the hollows, shoutin' like mad, an' clearin' the brooks and
precipices with a band o' yellin' Redskins at my tail! Isn't it enough
to drive a fellow wild to be on the brink of such a chance an' miss it?
I say, haven't you got a penknife in your pocket--no? Not even a pair
o' scissors? Why, I thought you women never travelled without
scissors!"
"Alas! Tolly, I have not even scissors; besides, if I had, it would
take me at least two minutes with all the strength of my fingers to cut
the thongs that bind you with scissors, and I don't think the Redskins
would stand quietly by and look on while I did it. But what say you to
_me_ trying it by myself?"
"Quite useless," returned Tolly. "You'd be caught at once--or break
your neck. And you'd never get on, you know, without me. No, no, we've
got fairly into a fix, an' I don't see my way out of it. If my hands
were free we might attempt anything, but what can a fellow do when tied
up in this fashion?"
"He can submit, Tolly, and wait patiently."
Tolly did not feel inclined to submit, and was not possessed of much
patience, but he was too fond of Betty to answer flippantly. He
therefore let his feelings escape through the safety-valve of a great
sigh, and relapsed into pensive silence.
Meanwhile the attention of the band of savages was attracted to another
small band of natives which approached them from the eastward. That
these were also friends was evident from the fact that the larger band
made no hostile demonstration, but quietly awaited the coming up of the
others. The newcomers were three in number, and two of them bore on
their shoulders what appeared to be the body of a man wrapped up in a
blanket.
"They've got a wounded comrade with them, I think," said little Trevor.
"So it would seem," replied Betty, with a dash of pity in her tone, for
she was powerfully sympathetic.
The savages laid the form in the blanket on the ground, and began to
talk earnestly with their comrades.
"It's not dead yet anyhow," remarked Tolly, "for I see it move. I
wonder whether it is a man or a woman. Mayhap it's their old
grandmother they're giving a little exercise to. I've heard that some
o' the Redskins are affectionate sort o' fellows, though most of 'em are
hard enough on the old folk."
As he spoke he looked up in Betty's face. Just as he did so a startling
change came over that face. It suddenly became ashy pale, the large
eyes dilated to their utmost extent, and the mouth opened with a short
gasp.
In great alarm the boy turned his eyes in the direction in which the
girl gazed so fixedly, and then his own visage assumed a somewhat
similar appearance as he beheld the pale, thin, cadaverous countenance
of his friend Tom Brixton, from off which a corner of the blanket had
just slipped. But for the slight motion above referred to Tom might
have been mistaken for a dead man, for his eyes were closed and his lips
bloodless.
Uttering a sudden shout Tolly Trevor flung himself headlong off the pony
and tried to get on his feet but failed, owing to his hands being tied
behind him. Betty also leaped to the ground, and, running to where Tom
lay, went down on her knees and raised his head in her hands.
The poor youth, being roused, opened his eyes. They were terribly
sunken and large, but when they met those of Betty they enlarged to an
extent that seemed positively awful, and a faint tinge of colour came to
his hollow cheeks.
"Betty!" he whispered; "can--can it be possible?"
"Yes, it is I! Surely God must have sent me to save your life!"
"I fear not, dear--"
He stopped abruptly and shut his eyes. For a few moments it seemed as
if he were dead, but presently he opened them again, and said, faintly,
"It is too late, I fear. You are very kind, but I--I feel so terribly
weak that I think I am dying."
By this time Tolly, having managed to get on his feet stood beside his
friend, on whom he gazed with intense anxiety. Even the Indians were
solemnised by what appeared to be a death-scene.
"Have you been wounded!" asked the girl, quickly.
"No; _only_ starved!" returned Tom, a slight smile of humour flickering
for a second on his pale face even in that hour of his extremity.
"Have the Indians given you anything to eat since they found you?"
"They have tried to, but what they offered me was dry and tough; I could
not get it down."
The girl rose promptly. "Tolly, fetch me some water and make a fire.
Quick!" she said, and going up to an Indian, coolly drew from its sheath
his scalping-knife, with which she cut Tolly's bonds. The savage
evidently believed that such a creature could not possibly do evil, for
he made no motion whatever to check her. Then, without a word more, she
went to the saddle-bags on the obstinate horse, and, opening one of
them, took out some soft sugar. The savage who held the horse made no
objection. Indeed, from that moment the whole band stood silently by,
observing the pretty maiden and the active boy as they moved about,
regardless of everything but the work in hand.
The Rose of Oregon constituted herself a sick-nurse on that occasion
with marvellous facility. True, she knew nothing whatever about the
duties of a sick-nurse or a doctor, for her father was one of those
fortunate men who are never ill, but her native tact and energy
sufficed. It was not her nature to stand by inactive when anything
urgent had to be done. If she knew not what to do, and no one else did,
she was sure to attempt something. Whether sugar-and-water was the best
food for a starving man she knew not, but she did know--at least she
thought--that the starvation ought to be checked without delay.
"Here, Mr Brixton, sip a little of this," she said, going down on her
knees, and putting a tin mug to the patient's mouth.
Poor Tom would have sipped prussic acid cheerfully from _her_ hand! He
obeyed, and seemed to like it.
"Now, a little more."
"God bless you, dear girl!" murmured Tom, as he sipped a little more.
"There, that will do you good till I can prepare something better."
She rose and ran to the fire which Tolly had already blown up almost to
furnace heat.
"I filled the kettle, for I knew you'd want it," said the boy, turning
up his fiery-red visage for a moment, "It can't be long o' boiling with
such a blaze below it."
He stooped again and continued to blow while Betty cut some dried meat
into small pieces. Soon these were boiled, and the resulting soup was
devoured by the starving man with a zest that he had never before
experienced.
"Nectar!" he exclaimed faintly, smiling as he raised his eyes to Betty's
face.
"But you must not take too much at a time," she said, gently drawing
away the mug.
Tom submitted patiently. He would have submitted to anything patiently
just then!
During these proceedings the Indians, who seemed to be amiably disposed,
looked on with solemn interest and then, coming apparently to the
conclusion that they might as well accommodate themselves to
circumstances, they quietly made use of Tolly's fire to cook a meal for
themselves.
This done, one of them--a noble-looking savage, who, to judge from his
bearing and behaviour, was evidently their chief--went up to Betty, and,
with a stately bend of the head, said, in broken English, "White woman
git on horse!"
"And what are you going to do with this man?" asked Betty, pointing to
the prostrate form of Tom.
"Unaco will him take care," briefly replied the chief (meaning himself),
while with a wave of his hand he turned away, and went to Tolly, whom he
ordered to mount the pony, which he styled the "littil horse."
The boy was not slow to obey, for he was by that time quite convinced
that his only chance of being allowed to have his hands left free lay in
prompt submission. Any lurking thought that might have remained of
making a grand dash for liberty was effectually quelled by a big savage,
who quietly took hold of the pony's rein and led it away. Another
Indian led Betty's horse. Then the original three who had found Tom
took him up quite gently and carried him off, while the remainder of the
band followed in single file. Unaco led the way, striding over the
ground at a rate which almost forced the pony to trot, and glancing from
side to side with a keen look of inquiry that seemed to intimate an
expectation of attack from an enemy in ambush.
But if any such enemy existed he was careful not to show himself, and
the Indian band passed through the defiles and fastnesses of the Sawback
Hills unmolested until the shades of evening began to descend.
Then, on turning round a jutting rock that obstructed the view up a
mountain gorge, Unaco stopped abruptly and held up his hand. This
brought the band to a sudden halt and the chief, apparently sinking on
his knees, seemed to melt into the bushes. In a few minutes he returned
with a look of stern resolve on his well-formed countenance.
"He has discovered something o' some sort, I--"
Tolly's remark to his fair companion was cut short by the point of a
keen knife touching his side, which caused him to end with "hallo!"
The savage who held his bridle gave him a significant look that said,
"Silence!"
After holding a brief whispered conversation with several of his braves,
the chief advanced to Betty and said--
"White man's in the bush. Does white woman know why?"