"What justice ever other judgment taught,
But he should die who merits not to live."
SPENSER.
About the middle of the afternoon, on the day next succeeding the eventful
one which was marked by the occurrences narrated in the last chapter, a
cavalcade of about a dozen men on horseback, followed by a single wagon,
containing some fire-arms, two or three pairs of iron handcuffs, and a few
other articles of luggage, came clattering down the road from the west,
towards the tavern with which the reader has already been made familiar.
The men, who had been dispatched for the shire-town of the county, had
ridden hard all night, reached the place at daylight, drummed up the
officers of justice, got them started at an early hour, and urged them on
with such speed that, within twenty hours, they had arrived at the scene of
action. After the halt of an hour at the tavern, for rest and refreshment,
and a brief consultation with the settlers, the sheriff, and his posse, now
swelled by volunteers from the settlement, set forth, under the guidance of
Phillips, for the residence of the supposed criminal, calculating to reach
there about dusk,--the hour they deemed most favorable for making the
arrest. After proceeding in silence about two-thirds of the way to their
destination, they halted, to make their final preparations and arrangements
for the onset; when, knowing the great strength and desperate character of
the man with whom they would have to deal, they first carefully prepared
their fire-arms, and then detailed a half-dozen of their number, most
conversant with the locality, to go forward, spread themselves around the
borders of Gaut's clearing, and cautiously advance to the house, so as to
head off any attempt he might make to escape, when the main body made their
appearance. All the time spent in these precautions, however, as well as
this whole jaunt thus far up the river, was destined to be mostly lost;
for, as the company were again beginning to move forward, they were met by
the scouts, dispatched the night before, hurrying back, most of them in a
disabled condition, and with the report that Gaut had escaped about an hour
before. They had lain in their coverts all day, and in the fore part of it
nothing had been seen to excite their suspicions; but, towards night, they
noticed him cleaning his rifle and pistols, as near as they could judge,
and then, soon after, bringing out a pack and placing it by the side of his
rifle at the door; and scarcely had they time to concentrate before he came
out, shouldered his pack, took his arms, and proceeded towards a canoe
moored on the bank of the river. They then instantly resolved to intercept
him; and, running for the spot, came up to him just as he had laid his
rifle in the boat; when he turned upon them with the suddenness and fury of
a pursued tiger; seized the foremost, who had laid his hands on the canoe,
and, with giant strength, threw him headlong into the river; hurled the
second with stunning effect on the ground; knocked down a third with his
fist; leaped into his canoe, sent it swiftly across the stream, ran up the
opposite bank, and disappeared in the woods, before they had recovered from
their confusion, or thought of having recourse to their rifles to stop him.
"Slipped through our fingers and gone!" said the sheriff with an air of
chagrin and disappointment.
"Yes, for this onset," said Codman, the next to volunteer remarks in the
provoking nonplus in which they now all found themselves. "Yes, but I
should like mightily to know how he got wind of our movements? If the devil
didn't tell him, I don't think he done as well by his friend as he ought."
"Perhaps," rejoined the sheriff, after the laugh of some and the approving
glances of others, which had followed the characteristic remark of the
trapper, had passed away,--"perhaps he, or some of his family, caught a
glimpse of these scouts round their clearing during the day; or perhaps he
has an accomplice, or tool, whom he had engaged to watch public movements,
and bring him word."
"I have thought of some such thing, myself," remarked Phillips. "In the
case of his robbing our camp, last fall, I felt quite confident he must
have had some accomplice, or some secret agent, to take off the furs for
him. If he has such an one now, I think it must be a Jesuit priest, as I
have heard that such a looking personage has, once or twice, been seen at
Gaut's house since he moved into the settlement."
"Well, if the villain has such a character as that in tow, he would be
devil enough for all common purposes," responded the sheriff. "But, however
all that may be, I fear he has struck a line for Canada, and this is the
last we shall ever see of him in this country."
"Not for Canada," confidently said the hunter; "for I know enough about him
to make me feel quite sure that he will never again trust his head within
reach of British authority."
"Ah!" exclaimed the sheriff, "what is it you know?"
"I think it had better not be told just yet," answered the other,
decisively. "Let us first see whether he can't be caught and hung here, for
his last crying offence."
"But do you think he can yet be overtaken, and arrested?" asked the former.
"Certainly I do," returned the hunter, with earnest confidence. "He must,
and _shall_, be taken! God's curse is on the man; and he will never, I tell
you, _never_ be suffered to escape us."
"Well, then," resumed the sheriff, thoughtfully, "what course do you think
he will take, and where secrete himself, so that he can be found? I, on my
part, stand ready to do every thing in my power to bring the miscreant, of
whose guilt I think there can now be but little doubt, to immediate
justice. Now, as you are said to be a man of observation and energy, Mr.
Phillips, let us have the benefit of your opinion and advice in the
matter."
"It is my opinion," said the hunter, in response, after dropping his head a
moment in study, "it is very clearly my opinion that the fellow will now
aim to reach some of the eastern cities,--over the Umbagog, most likely, in
a canoe that he keeps concealed somewhere on the western shore, which is
only a mile or two over this ridge, that rises from the other bank of the
river, here against us. He will not be likely to come back to his house, or
the river, where he will still suppose we are on the watch; nor will he
start out on the lake till after dark, lest he be seen, and his course
traced; but lie concealed till that time in some of the difficult rocky
steeps that shut down to the lake."
"Your ideas of his probable aims and movements appear reasonable, Mr.
Phillips. Now, what are the steps you would advise to be taken for his
apprehension?" asked the sheriff.
"Well, my plan would be something like this," replied the hunter, musingly.
"I would post half a dozen men, for the night,--to be relieved in the
morning,--a half mile or so apart, along this river, above and below here,
to be walking back and forth, and occasionally firing a gun. The others go
back, and a sufficient number get on to the lake before dark to have canoes
in station every quarter of a mile along the western shore. Codman, you
will be a good hand to manage this company. As for myself, I will wade the
river somewhere hereabouts, go over through the woods to the lake-shore, be
mousing round the shore a little, in search of his canoe, and, if I find
it, be out on the water by the time you get there; if not, I will be within
call of some of you, and give, for a signal, the cry of a raccoon, which I
can imitate tolerably, I believe."
"But you don't propose to go alone?" asked several, anxiously. "It might be
dangerous business, if you should happen to encounter him with no help
within call."
"Yes, I think I will go alone," quietly replied the hunter. "If he can see
me before I do him, he will do better than I think he can. And, if I
_do_ get my eye on him first, he will stop and yield, or die, as sure as my
rifle is true to its old trust; for I should feel it my bounden duty to
stop him by bullet, if need be, in case he should attempt to flee, as much
as I should to shoot a painter carrying off one of my own children."
By the approval of the sheriff, and the concurrence of all, the hunter's
plan of operations was immediately adopted. And, accordingly, the
designated numbers were told off to man the river, and at once set in
motion to perform the duty; while the rest retraced their way to the
village, except the hunter, who, seeking a shoal place, waded the river,
and was soon out of sight among the thickets of the opposite bank.
On the return of the company to the tavern, every boat to be found on the
river, from that place to the lake, was immediately put in requisition, for
the service of the night. And by early twilight, eight canoes, each
containing two or three well-armed men, led on by the trapper, in a single
canoe, were seen emerging from the outlet into the broad lake, and slowly
filing off along its western border. Coasting in closely to the shore, so
as to keep within the shadow of the woods, they pursued their noiseless way
up the lake, to a point where the low, marshy land lying between the lower
part of the Umbagog and the Magalloway rises into the gradually-swelling
ridge, which, a mile or two farther on, becomes a rocky, precipitous
mountain, whose beetling cliffs, overhanging the deep, dark waters beneath,
were crowned with their primeval growth of towering pines. Here they paused
long enough to station one of their canoes, near a small point, commanding
a view across the corresponding coves on either side; and then cautiously
proceeded onward, dropping a canoe, in like manner, every five or six
hundred yards, till the extremity of the western coast was reached, the
line efficiently manned, and the trapper left to cruise alone over the
cordon of boats thus stretched along the shore, to carry any needed
intelligence, and make independent observations. It was now dark, and,
being a moonless night, all within the shade of the mountains, especially,
was wrapt in almost impenetrable gloom; so that the ear, rather than the
eye, must now be depended on for whatever discoveries were to be made.
Nothing as yet, to the disappointment and increasing anxiety of the
company, had been seen or heard of the hunter.
"He cannot have been killed, so soon, can he?" whispered the sheriff, in
one of the last-stationed canoes, as the trapper glided alongside, to hold
communication with the officer.
"No," was the low-toned reply; "that could not have happened, if there were
any _fear_ of such a thing, without one or more rifle-shots, which, in this
calm evening, and this favorable locality for conveying sounds to a great
distance, we must have heard, even down to the tavern. No, I will risk him.
I think he must have got on to the fellow's trail, and, if near the lake,
lies in some spot where he can't move away without danger of alarming the
game. We have nothing to do but wait patiently. Phillips knows we are here
in waiting, and he will report himself as soon as he can."
They did not, however, have to wait long. In a few minutes, a small,
shrill, quavering cry, which few could have distinguished from that of a
raccoon, rose from a thicket on the shore, a short distance below.
"Ah! that is he," softly cried the trapper; "I know the thicket he is
hailing from. If you will remain just where you are, I will scull my canoe
down to the spot, take him in with me, if he has not found a boat,--or at
any rate bring him here to make his report."
Like the gliding of a fish, shrinking away from sight, the light canoe,
under the invisible impulse of the dexterously handled oar of the trapper,
passed noiselessly away, and disappeared in the darkness. But, long before
the expectant officer, who had been vainly listening for some sound, either
of the going or the coming of the absent canoe, had thought of its return,
it was again at his side, with the anticipated addition to its occupants.
"Here is the man, to speak for himself," said the trapper, putting out a
hand to guard off and prevent the canoes from grazing.
"Well, Mr. Phillips," said the sheriff, in the same cautious under-tone by
which all their communications had been graduated, "we are all looking to
you,--what is your report?"
"In the first place, that he is here."
"Where?"
"Sixty or seventy rods to the north of us, in a secure retreat up among the
rocks, about a dozen rods from the shore."
"Are you sure of that?"
"Yes."
"How did you make the discovery?"
"I will tell you. When I came over, I struck down to the lake, nearly
abreast the lower end of the ridge, and cautiously moved along the shore,
upwards, in search of the suspected boat; without discovering it, however,
till I came to the rocky pass I have alluded to, a short distance above
here; when, peering out into the approaching darkness, I caught sight of it
run under a treetop lying partly in the water. Your boats had not got on
there; and thinking, if I took the boat out on to the water, as I had
proposed, he might discover the loss too soon, take the alarm, and conclude
to escape through the woods round the upper lakes, I varied my plan, and
stationed myself back a few rods, to see if he would not come down to
escape by his canoe. I had trailed him to the top of this rocky eastern
slope, before I struck down to the lake, and knew he must be somewhere
near; so I cocked my rifle, for instant use, and stood ready for his
approach. And in a short time I caught the sound of his movements, sliding
cautiously down the rocky steeps from the spot above, where I suspected he
had housed himself. But, before he reached the bottom of the short ravine
he must come down, or could be seen where I stood, a dry stick unluckily
broke under my foot, and the sound, as I perceived at once, brought him to
a stand. And, though he did not know, and don't know yet, whether the sound
was caused by the step of man or beast, yet he soon seemed to think it
safest to retreat; and my ear could distinctly trace his movements, as he
clambered and pulled himself along back up the ledges to his retreat. I
then went down to the shore; and perceiving, from the slight agitation of
the water and the faint sound of its gurgling under oars, that you had got
on to the ground, I stole down the shore a piece, and gave the signal, as
you heard."
"Are you familiar with the place where you think he lies concealed?"
"Yes, nearly as much so as with my own door-yard."
"What sort of a place is it, and how many ways are there to reach it or to
escape from it?"
"It is the most curious place in all these parts, and there is but one way,
I ever could find, to get to it; and that is, by climbing up the ledgy
shelf of the face of the hill, through a sort of ravine that opens from it
down to the lake, where there is scarce room, enough, on either side, to
pass along the shore between the perpendicular cliffs and the water. It is
an old bear's den, in fact, passing horizontally into the rocks twelve or
fifteen feet, of varying breadth, and, after you get in, from three to six
feet in height. I have taken at least a half-dozen fine bears from it, in
my day, and supposed I was the only one knowing of it; but Gaut must have
discovered it before this; for I at once found by his trail that he steered
directly for the spot, on leaving the Magalloway."
"He did?" interposed the trapper; "_he_ find it, when he has been here in
the settlement less than a year, and knows little about the woods; and _I_,
who have been here a dozen years, knew nothing about it? He never found it
without _help_, and that, too, from the same character that let him know we
were coming to his house, to-day. I tell you, the Old Boy is in that man!"
"Then we will hang him and the Old Boy with one rope," resumed the hunter,
"for we are now sure of him."
"I hope so," said the sheriff; "but can he be taken to-night?"
"He might, possibly, if we were willing to run risks enough," replied the
hunter, doubtfully. "But I should hardly think it advisable to make the
attempt. He could not be drawn from the cave, if we made the onset; while,
if we entered it, he could easily kill several of us before he could be
secured."
"What shall be done, then?"
"I have been studying on that, and the best thing I can think of, is, to
post men enough to guard him securely through the night; and then have on
force enough in the morning to unburrow him, by some means or other, which
we will contrive when the time comes."
"But will he not come down, to escape in his boat, to-night?"
"I rather expect not. After hearing the noise I made, and, then coupling it
with my signal, which he will then be suspicious of, as well as of the
sounds that most likely have reached or will reach his ears from some of
our boats; after all this, he will, probably, be afraid of falling into a
trap, and would prefer taking his chances of escape by daylight. But, if he
should come down, I will arrange things so that we will have him, to a dead
certainty."
The suggestions of the hunter were again adopted; and he was again
requested to take the lead in putting the proposed plan into execution.
Accordingly, after directing the trapper to concentrate those stationed in
their canoes above with those in one or two below, he entered the boat with
the sheriff and his associate; and, taking an oar, slowly rowed along
towards the place he had designated as the retreat of the desperate outlaw,
on whose seizure they were so resolutely determined.
After reaching the spot, and waiting till the expected boat-crews arrived,
the hunter quietly landed, and stationed two of the men in the narrow pass
north of the gorge, with orders to keep a sharp lookout through the night,
hail whoever might approach, and shoot him down before suffering him to
escape. He next led two more up round the nearest approaches of the cave,
and posted one on each side, a little above it, to prevent all possibility
of escape over the rocks and ledges in that direction; and then, returning
down to the shore, selected the trapper to occupy with him the southern
pass to the gorge, thus reserving for himself, and the man on whom he
believed he could best rely in an emergency, the post where an encounter
would be most likely to occur. After completing these arrangements, and
landing a pair of handcuffs from the sheriff's boat, he dismissed the
officer to collect all the rest of the company, not thus retained, and
return to the village for the night, and for a fresh rally the next
morning.
It was now ten o'clock at night; and from that time, for the next six
hours, the stillness and darkness of death brooded over the slumbering
waters of the lake. The mute men on guard,--to whom the slowly-passing
hours seemed doubly long and gloomy, from the oppressive sense of the duty
of silence,--stood immovably at their posts, alternately employing
themselves in guessing at the hour of the night, and intently listening to
catch some sound which should indicate the presence of the dreaded object
of their watch. But, through the whole night, no such sound or indication
reached their strained senses; and most of them, at length, were brought to
the belief that either he had never been there, or that he had, by some
unknown means, effected his escape. The hunter, however, never for a moment
permitted his faith to waver. He not only felt confident that Gaut was
still in his dark cage in the rocks, but that, the next day, safe means
would be found to uncage him, and deliver him over to hands of justice, to
undergo the penalties of his crimes. And, as soon as the anxiously-awaited
daylight began to make its appearance in the east, he began gradually to
work his noiseless way into the mouth of the gorge, and then up over the
steeps and ragged ledges, till he had gained a stand under cover of a tuft
of clinging evergreens, where he could obtain an unobstructed view of the
mouth of the cavern, some six rods above. Here, low crouched behind his
bushy screen, with rifle cocked and levelled at the entrance, he lay,
silently awaiting the approach of daylight, expecting that Gaut would then,
at least, be peering out to ascertain the state of affairs on the shore
below. And the event soon showed the correctness of his reasoning. As the
brightening flushes of morning fell on the water, and began to throw the
reflected light on the face of the mountain, so as to bring its darker
recesses to view, the hunter's practised ear soon detected a movement
within the cave; and presently the head, and then the shoulders, of the
wary outlaw rose gradually in sight against the rocks, immediately over the
low entrance.
"Yield yourself a prisoner, or die!" suddenly broke from the lips of the
concealed hunter.
Gaut cast a startled glance around him, and then instantly threw himself to
the ground, but barely in time to escape the bullet of the exploding rifle
below, which struck the rock in the exact spot that a half-second before
was darkened by the shade of his head and shoulders.
"Went through the hair on top of his head, I think, but missed his skull by
something like an inch, probably," said the hunter, quickly gliding down a
few feet over the edge of the shelf, where he lay so as to put a rock
between him and the mouth of the cave. "But, on the whole, I am glad of it;
for I had rather see him go by the hand of the hangman than my own."
The hunter then quietly reloaded his rifle, and went down among his excited
companions; who, the ban of silence being now removed by his example, came
forward to talk over this unexpected and startling incident of the morning,
which had served the double purpose of demonstrating to the former that
Gaut would never surrender himself a prisoner, and to the latter, the
doubted fact that the object of their search was there, as represented to
them the evening before. With the whole of them, indeed, the affair had now
assumed a new aspect. Phillips and Codman put their heads together, and
began to start and discuss various expedients for dislodging the intrenched
fugitive; while the others, in their excitement and agitation, walked
hurriedly about in their confined positions speaking or thinking of the
desperate and dangerous struggle now likely soon to ensue in the attempted
capture, and anxiously awaiting the arrival of the sheriff and the
additional force, which, it was understood, he would rally and bring on
with him.
"They are coming!" at length cried one of the men from the cliff above;
"they are coming in troops, and in all directions."
The men on shore now eagerly ran down to the farthest projecting rocks, or
on fallen trees extending into the water, to obtain unobstructed views of
the company thus announced to be approaching in the distance; when, instead
of the few they had expected, they beheld a whole fleet of canoes emerging
from the distant outlet below, and rowing with all speed towards them;
while, at the same time, another company of boats was seen approaching from
the settlement around the upper end of the lake.
It appeared that, when the sheriff with his attendants reached the village
the evening before, and announced the exciting tidings that the desperate
man, whom all were so intent on hunting down, had been driven to a
stronghold among the rocks of the mountain up the lake, where it might
require a large force to take him, men started off in all directions, and
rode all night with the news; which, flying like wind over this and the
adjoining settlements, threw the whole country, for thirty or forty miles
around, into commotion, and put scores of bold men immediately on the march
for the scene of action. And the upshot was that, by sunrise the next
morning, more than fifty men, hurrying in from all quarters, had assembled
at the village, and having appropriated all the boats on the rivers, for
many miles above and below, had joined the company of the sheriff, and
under his lead were now on their way to the great point of attraction;
together with many others entering the lake from other quarters.
In a short time the long retinue of canoes came clustering to the shore;
when the motley company, preceded by the sheriff and his immediate
attendants, all landed, and, crowding around the hunter and his associates,
listened, with many a half-suppressed exclamation, indicative of the deep
excitement that agitated the mass, to the recital of the discoveries and
incidents of the morning.
"I cannot believe," said the sheriff who had been listening with keen
interest to the hunter's account of his bold but fruitless attempt to
compel the submission of the desperado, "I cannot believe, after all, that
the fellow will be so foolhardy as to persist in his refusal to surrender,
when he knows there is now no longer any chance for him to escape. I will
try him faithfully before resorting to extreme measures."
"That may be well enough, perhaps," remarked the hunter, demurely, feeling
a little rebuked for his own hastiness in firing on the man, by some of the
expressions of the officer; "yes, that will be well enough. But, if you
succeed in drawing him out to be taken by means of words alone, I will try
the experiment on the very next wolf or painter I drive into his den."
"Nevertheless, it shall be tried," returned the officer.
And accordingly, having called to his side a small band of well-armed
assistants, he proceeded with them up the gorge, till he had gained the
shelf which afforded the hunter a covert in the previous assault; when he
stepped fearlessly out in full view of the mouth of the cavern, and, with
a loud voice, calling the name of Gaut Gurley, "commanded him, in the name
and by the authority of the State of New Hampshire, to come out and
surrender himself a prisoner, to answer, in court, to the charges set forth
in a warrant then ready to be produced."
The officer now paused; and all listened; but no sound came from the cave.
The summons was then repeated, in a still louder and more determined tone
of voice. And this time a sound, resembling the growl of a chafed tiger,
was heard within, belching out a volley of muttered curses, and ending with
the distinguishable words of defiance:
"If you want me, come and take me; and we will see who dies first."
"Your blood be on your own head, then, obstinate wretch!" exclaimed the
excited officer. "Men, prepare to throw a volley of bullets into that
cavern. Ready--aim--fire!"
The single report of a half-dozen exploding muskets instantly followed the
word, ringing out and reverberating along the mountain like the shock of a
field-piece; while, with the dying sound, a hoarse shout of derisive
laughter from the cave greeted the ears of the awe-struck and shuddering
company around.
"There is no use in that," said the hunter, who had followed and posted
himself a little in the rear of the besieging party, under the apprehension
that the besieged might make a rush out of his retreat, in the smoke and
confusion consequent on the firing,--"there is no use in any thing of that
kind. The entrance, after the first four or five feet, suddenly expands
into quite a large space, into one of the corners of which he could easily
step, as he doubtless did just now, and be safe against a regiment of
rifles from without."
"Then we will smoke him out!" fiercely exclaimed the sheriff, recovering
from his astonishment at finding the culprit had not been annihilated, and
beginning to be enraged at seeing himself and his authority thus alike
despised; "we will smoke him out, like a burrowed wild beast, and soon
convince the scoffing villain that we are not to be foiled in this manner.
Hillo, there, below! gather and bring up here at least a cartload of dry
and green boughs."
With eager alacrity the throng below sprang to do the bidding of the
officer; and, in a short time, they came clambering up the steeps, with
their shouldered loads of mingled material, to the post occupied by the
advanced party; who took, and, keeping as much as possible out of the range
of the entrance, carried them up, and threw them over the next shelf on to
the little level space lying around the mouth of the cavern. This process
was briskly continued, till a pile as large as a haycock was raised against
the upright ledge through which the cave opened by a low narrow mouth at
the bottom. A fire was then struck, a pine knot kindled, and held ready for
the intended application; when the sheriff, proclaiming to the desperate
object of these fearful preparations what was in store for him, commanded
him once more, and for the last time, to surrender. But, receiving no
reply, he then, ordering the men to stand ready with poles to scatter the
material the moment the victim should cry for mercy, seized the flaming
brand and hurled it into the most combustible part of the pile before him.
Within the space of a minute the appearance of the quickly-catching blaze,
now seen leaping in a thousand dimly-sparkling tongues of flame, from layer
to layer and from, side to side, through the crevices of the loosely-packed
mass, gave proof that the whole pile was becoming thoroughly ignited. And
the next moment the cave, and the whole visible range of rocks above, were
lost to sight in the dense cloud of smoke that deeply wrapt and rolled over
them. Expecting every instant to hear the agonized cries of the victim, now
seemingly enfolded in the very embrace of the terrible element, calling
aloud for mercy and offering submission, the whole company, crowding the
gorge below, or peering over from the surrounding cliffs, climbed for the
purpose, stood for some time mute and appalled at the spectacle, and the
thought of the fearful issue it involved. No sound or sight, however,
except the crackling of the consuming fagots and the flaring sheet of the
ascending flames, greeted their expectant senses.
"Pretty much as I have long thought it would turn out, in the end," said
the trapper, the first to break the silence, as the fire was seen to be
slacking away, without any thing yet being heard from the dreaded inmate of
the cave. "His master is taking him off in a winding-sheet of smoke and
flame. I shouldn't be surprised at a clap of thunder or an earthquake to
wind up with."
"At any rate," observed another of the crowd, "he must be suffocated by
this time."
"Yes," responded a third, "dead, dead as a door-nail; so, there is an end
of the incarnate Beelzebub that we have known by the name of Gaut Gurley."
"I am not so clear about that," now interposed the hunter, who had stood
intently watching the varying aspects of the fire and smoke about the cave.
"I thought, myself, that this operation must put him on begging terms, if
any thing would; and the question is, whether it wouldn't now, before he
found himself in any danger of smothering. I don't understand it; but
stay,--what is that rising from the top of the rocks, some distance back
from the front of the den? Mr. Sheriff, do you see it?"
"See what, sir?"
"Why, that slender column of smoke rising gently out of the top of the
rocks, directly over the cave, and growing more visible every moment, as
the smoke from the fire down here in front becomes light and thin in the
clear blaze."
"I do see what appears, here, to be something of the kind not proceeding
directly from the fire;--yes, plainly, now. What does it mean, Mr.
Phillips?"
"It means that the rascal has a chimney to his house, or what, for his
safety, is the same. The rocks forming the top of the cavern are piled up
so loosely that the smoke rises through them almost as easy and natural as
from a chimney. He had nothing to do but to throw himself on the bottom, to
be out of its way, and breathe as good air as the best of us."
"By Heavens, Phillips, I believe you are right! And that is not all there
is to it, either: if our smoking-out experiment has failed, it has shown a
better one. The same looseness of the rocks that permitted the escape of
the smoke so freely, will permit, also, their being removed or torn away.
We will now uncage him by digging down into his den. Ho there! my merry men
below, go to cutting heavy pry-poles, and look up your crow-bars, picks,
sledge-hammers, and shovels. There is work for you all."
As soon as the unexpected discoveries which had led to these new orders,
and consequent change of the whole plan of attack, were understood and
fully comprehended by all, the solemn and revolting character of the scene
was instantly converted into one of bustle and animation. As the plan thus
indicated by the sheriff required the scene, of operations to be
transferred to the top of the rocks above the cave, to which there was no
means of access from the gorge in front, he, leaving a strong guard in the
pass now occupied, took the hunter and came down to the shore; when the
latter, followed by the officer and a score of resolute, strong-armed men
with their various implements, led the devious way back through the woods,
and up round the ledgy and precipitous face of the mountain, till they
reached a point a little above the level of the cave. Here they paused, and
sent the hunter out along a lateral shelf of the declivity, to search for
the most accessible path to their destination. While the company were
pausing here for this purpose, their attention was suddenly arrested by the
heralding shouts of another company of men, evidently approaching from the
other side of the mountain. And, soon after, a band of a dozen well-armed,
hardy-looking fellows, headed by a tall, powerfully-framed man, made their
appearance, pushing their way down the brush-tangled steeps from above.
"Turner!" exclaimed the sheriff, addressing the leader of the approaching
band, who was at once recognized to be an ex-sheriff of the county, and one
of the most daring and successful felon-hunters ever known in northern
New-Hampshire; "General Turner, of all men you are the one I should have
most wished to see, just at this time. We have a tough case on hand; but
how did you get here?"
"The only way left for us. When we reached the tavern down here on the
river, not a boat was to be had; and so we steered up the Magalloway, and
came over by land, as you see. I had heard of this desperate character, and
your dealings with him, before the present outrage, and have now come to
help you put him through. Now tell us the state of the siege,--some idea of
which we got from a man we met, a mile back on our way."
The sheriff then related all that had transpired, and named the new plan of
operations, of which they were then proceeding to test the feasibility.
"We will have him!" said Turner, with a determined look. "If we can't tear
away the rocks with bars and sledges, we will send off for a barrel of
gunpowder to blow them open; and if that fails, I will go into the cave,
myself, and if I don't snake him out before I've done with him, he must be
a harder customer than it has ever yet been my lot to encounter."
By this time the hunter had returned, and now pointed out the best way to
the place of which they were in quest; when the sheriff, ex-sheriff, and
their respective followers, preceded by their guide, commenced forcing
their passage along the craggy cliffs; and, within ten minutes, they found
themselves standing on the off-set forming the rocky roofing of the cavern.
The appearance of the place was much more favorable for the proposed
attempt at excavation than any of them had anticipated. From the front face
of the rock, which was pierced by the mouth of the cave at the bottom, and
which presented a perpendicular of about fifteen feet, the topmost stones
rapidly fell off to a depression over the centre of the cave, which, it was
at once seen, must greatly reduce the depth of rock to be removed or broken
up, before reaching the interior. And, in addition to this encouraging
discovery, the rocks in and around this depression, through which the smoke
was yet visibly oozing, appeared to be detached from the main ledge, and,
though heavy, such as might be removed by appliances at command. Still,
there was a formidable mass to be disrupted and removed before an entrance
could be effected in that direction. But the men, impatient of inaction,
and eager to be doing something to forward the common object,--like all
bodies of excited people anxious to cooperate, but unable to decide on a
course of action,--scarcely waited to be told what was wanted, before they
all sprang to the work with that resistless union of faith and exertions
which requires no intervention of miracles to remove mountains. The moss,
earth, decayed wood, and all else of the loose covering of rocks, quickly
disappeared under their busy hands or rapidly-plied implements. The smaller
stones and broken fragments, as soon as loosened or beat off by the bars
and sledges, were seized and hurled in showers over the surrounding ledges;
the larger ones, when started from their beds by the long heavy prys, were
grappled with the united strength of all that could get to them, rolled up,
pitched over the precipice in front, and sent bounding and crashing down
the gorge below. And the whole forest resounded with the din of their heavy
blows and the mingling sounds of their varied labors.
While all who could find room to work on the excavation were thus briskly
pushing forward their operations, a smaller party were engaged in beating
down the rocky battlement in front; and so vigorously and successfully
were the efforts of these also directed, that, in a short time, the top was
so lowered, and the seamy rocks so split down, that, with the mass of
stones thrown over, a path of easy descent was formed from the top, down to
the shelf below, on one side of the mouth of the cave; which was now
securely blocked up, and closely invested by the party previously stationed
in near vicinity to guard it.
Thus bravely, and with no token of faltering at the obstacles which they
frequently encountered, and which sometimes required their greatest
exertions to overcome, did these strong-armed and determined men push on
their herculean labors, for the space of nearly two hours; when suddenly a
shout of exultation rose from those at work lowest down in the excavation,
and the next moment the voice of the ex-sheriff was heard exclaiming to
those around him:
"Courage, men! the game is nearly unkenneled. I have driven my bar through,
and the hole is so large that the bar has slipped from my hands and gone to
the bottom!"
The excitement now became intense; and all crowded round the rim of the
excavation, and, with uneasy looks and hushed voices, eagerly peered down
into the dimly-visible perforation at the bottom; while those already
within the excavated basin began, with beating hearts, carefully loosening
and pulling out the shivered and detached stones, lying around the small
aperture just effected, and continued the process until all the outer edges
of the broad, thin rock, which the crow-bar had perforated, and which
appeared to form the lower or interior layer of the roofing of the cavern,
were fully laid bare, and brought within the reach of the outstretched arms
of those bending down to grasp them. A dozen brawny hands were then seen
securing their gripe on one side of the rock; when, at the word of the
sheriff, a sudden pull was made with a force that raised the whole mass
nearly a foot from its bed.
"It comes bravely!" said the sheriff. "Now fix yourselves for another pull;
while two or three of you above there come forward with your rifles, and
stand with them levelled at the hole, as we open it, lest the desperate dog
make a rush before we are prepared. Now altogether,--there, now!"
The effort was made, and the sheeted rock was brought to a perpendicular;
when it was grappled by the men with might and main, lifted clear from its
bed, and thrust aside, letting the sunlight down upon the bottom of the
cave through a chasm nearly large enough to permit two men to jump in
abreast. There was now a dead pause; and all eyes were turned on the chasm
in silent and trembling expectation. But nothing appearing, the hunter and
ex-sheriff crept down prostrate to the brink of the chasm, and worked their
heads cautiously below, to get a fuller view of the interior. After
looking, with slightly varied positions, about a minute, they both rose and
came up on the bank; when the ex-sheriff, turning to the hunter, softly
said:
"He is there. I caught sight of his legs standing in a corner near the
mouth of the cave. Did _you_ get a view?"
"Yes, a better one than that; I saw his legs, and as much of his body as I
could without bringing my _own_ head within the line of his eyes. He stands
there on the watch, with cocked rifle pointing to this opening, while he
has a dirk within his left hand grasping the rifle, and I think a pistol
within his other hand, held in a similar manner. I can read his plan."
"What is it, as _you_ read it?"
"To take the first that enters with his rifle, pistol the second, make a
rush through the rest, and stab as he goes."
"About the truth, probably. But what is to be done? Shall you and I leap
down, make a spring upon him, and stand our chance?"
"Why,--yes," replied the hunter, with a little hesitation; "yes, if we
can't do better than throw away one good life, at least, for a bad one. But
if we could contrive to divert his attention suddenly to the mouth of the
cave--"
"You are right! Stay here a moment, and I will put matters in train to
carry out your suggestion," eagerly interrupted Turner, taking the sheriff
confidentially aside.
In a few minutes the determined ex-sheriff followed by four or five stout,
resolute men, whose special assistance he had bespoken for the occasion,
returned to the side of the hunter, and said:
"Get down there in your old position, where you can watch his movements.
They have gone down to unblock the mouth of the cave outside, and make a
feint of entering. If they succeed in drawing his fire, I will take that as
a signal,--if not, then you give me the word, at the right moment, when his
head, and with it naturally his rifle, is turned to the supposed new point
of attack, and I will leap down and make a spring to get within the line of
the muzzle before he can fire; and, the instant I disappear, you and these
men follow, and be close on my heels for the grapple."
The hunter then edged down to his former place of observation, where he
lay, while Turner sat crouching on the brink ready for the leap, narrowly
watching the movements of the dreaded foe within, who was seen to be still
standing motionless in the same position as before. Presently the movements
of those outside the old entrance of the cavern, as they began cautiously
to remove the blockading stones, became clearly audible, and soon a few
straggling rays of light began to gleam into the interior from that
direction. On perceiving these indications, the wary desperado began, for
the first time, to exhibit signs of uneasiness. Slightly changing his
position, he glanced rapidly from the already half-cleared entrance in
front to the chasm just opened through the top in the rear. But neither
seeing or hearing any thing that led him to expect any assault, except from
the front, and evidently supposing it was now the intention of his
assailants to drive him up through the top opening, to be seized as he came
out, he drew back a step, and, turning the muzzle of his rifle towards the
mouth of the cave, stood ready to fire upon the first who should make his
appearance. This movement was not lost on the keenly-watching, hunter, who
saw that it afforded a fair chance for a successful surprise; and he once
parted his lips to give the signal for the onset. But, perceiving from the
incoming light that the mouth of the cave was cleared from its
obstructions, he ventured to await the effect of the feint now momentarily
expected from that quarter. He had judged wisely. The delay was not in
vain. A rustling sound, seeming to come from some one squeezing through the
entrance, was now heard; and soon a dark object, resembling the head and
shoulders of a man, making slow and cautious advances, was fully protruded
into the cavern; when, suddenly, the whole ledge shook with the stunning
report of a rifle, and the next moment, Turner, Phillips, and their chosen
backers, had all disappeared in the cloud of smoke that came pouring up
through the chasm. Quick, heavy, muffled sounds, as of fiercely-grappling
tigers, instantly came from within. And within another minute, the
stentorian voice of the daring leader of the onset was heard, shouting for
the hand-cuffs and fetters.
The fierce siege was over. The desperate intentions and giant strength of
the besieged, after a brief but terrible struggle, had been thwarted and
overcome by the intrepidity and equal strength of the ex-sheriff; and he,
now firmly clenched round the body, and held down, with every limb in the
vise-like grasp of his iron-fisted captors, lay disarmed, helpless, and
panting on the ground.
"There!" sternly cried the victorious leader of the hazardous assault, as
he rose to his feet, after he had seen the heavy irons securely locked on
the wrists and ankles of the silent and sullen prisoner,--"there! drag him
out, feet foremost, into the open light of day, where he and his dark deeds
have all now got to come, to meet the vengeance of an outraged community!"
It was done, and with no gentle hand; when a long, wild shout of exultation
fiercely broke from the closely-encircling throng, thrilling the trembling
forest around with the din, and rolling away to the farthest shores of the
lake, to proclaim that the first murderer of the settlement--the
black-hearted Gaut Gurley--was now a prisoner, and in the uncompromising
hands of public justice.
The animated spectacle which now ensued, of trundling, pushing, and
tumbling the chafed and growling prisoner down to the shore, amid the
unrestrained demonstrations of the exulting multitude; the noisy and
bustling embarkation, on the lake; the ostentatious display of mimic
banners, formed by raising on tall poles, handkerchiefs, hats, coats, and
whatever would make a show in the distance, as the long line of canoes,
with the closely guarded prisoner in the centre, filed off in gorgeous
array, through the glitter of the sun-lit lake, on their way to the great
outlet; the pause and concentration there; the rapid descent down the river
to the village, where a board of magistrates were waiting to sit on the
case of the expected prisoner; and, finally, the loudly heralding
_kuk-kuk-ke-o-hos_ of the overflowing trapper, to announce, over a two-mile
reach of the stream, the triumphant approach,--this animated and here
extraordinary spectacle, we must leave to the delineation of the reader's
imagination. Our attention is more strongly demanded in a different
direction, to bring up other important incidents of our story, before
proceeding any farther with the actors who have figured in this part of the
narrative, or taking note of the examination to which they were now
hurrying the prisoner.