As the Canadian uttered the generous oath, wrung from him by
indignation, it seemed to him that a supplicating voice reached him.
"Is not the poor wretch calling for aid?" And he raised his head from
behind its shelter.
At sight of the fox-skin cap which covered the head of the giant, and of
the long and heavy rifle which he raised like a willow wand, the Indians
recognised one of their formidable northern enemies, and recoiled in
astonishment--for the Blackbird alone had been instructed as to whom
they were seeking. Bois-Rose, looking towards the shore now perceived
the unlucky Gayferos stretching out his arms towards him, and feebly
calling for help. The dying Indian still held the scalp in his clenched
hand.
At this terrible spectacle the Canadian drew himself up to his full
height. "Fire on these dogs!" cried he, "and remember--never let them
take you alive."
So saying, he resolutely entered the water, and any other man would have
had it up to his head, but the Canadian had all his shoulders above the
surface.
"Do not fire till after me," said Pepe to Fabian; "my hand is surer than
yours, and my Kentucky rifle carries twice as far as your Liege gun."
And he held his rifle ready to fire at the slightest sign of hostility
from the Indians.
Meanwhile, Bois-Rose still advanced, the water growing gradually
shallower, when an Indian raised his rifle ready to fire on the intrepid
hunter; but a bullet from Pepe stopped him, and he fell forward on his
face.
"Now you, Don Fabian!" said Pepe, throwing himself on the ground to
reload, after the American custom in such cases.
Fabian fired, but his rifle having a shorter range, the shot only drew
from the Indian at whom he aimed a cry of rage. But Pepe had reloaded,
and stood ready to fire again.
There was a moment's hesitation among the Indians, by which Bois-Rose
profited to draw towards him the body of the unlucky Gayferos. He,
clinging to his shoulders, had the presence of mind to leave his
preserver's arms free; who, with his burden, again entered the water,
going backwards. Then his rifle was heard, and an Indian's death-cry
immediately followed. This valiant retreat, protected by Pepe and
Fabian, awed the Indians, and some minutes after, Bois-Rose triumphantly
placed the fainting Gayferos on the island.
"There are three of them settled for," said he, "and now we shall have a
few minutes' truce. Well, Fabian, do you see the advantage of firing in
file? You did not do badly for a beginner, and I can assure you that
when you have a Kentucky rifle like us, you will be a good marksman."
Then to Gayferos, "We came too late to save the skin of your head, my
poor fellow, but console yourself, it is no such dreadful thing. I have
many friends in the same condition, who are none the worse for it. Your
life is saved--that is the great thing--and we shall endeavour to bind
up your wounds."
Some strips torn from the shirt of Gayferos served to bind around his
head a large mass of willow leaves crushed together and steeped in
water, and concealed the hideous wound. The blood was then washed from
his face.
"You see," said Bois-Rose, still clinging to the idea of keeping Fabian
near him, "you must learn to know the habits of the desert, and of the
Indians. The villains, who see, by the loss of three of their men, what
stuff we are made of, have retired to concoct some stratagem. You hear
how silent all is after so much noise?"
The desert, indeed, had recovered its silence, the leaves only trembled
in the evening breeze, and the water began to display brilliant colours
in the setting sun.
"Well, Pepe, they are but seventeen now!" continued Bois-Rose, in a tone
of triumph.
"Oh! we may succeed, if they do not get reinforcements."
"That is a chance and a terrible one; but our lives are in God's hands,"
replied Bois-Rose. "Tell me, friend!" said he to Gayferos, "you
probably belong to the camp of Don Estevan?"
"Do you know him then?" said the wounded man, in a feeble voice.
"Yes; and by what chance are you so far from the camp?"
The wounded man recounted how, by Don Estevan's orders, he had set off
to seek for their lost guide, and that his evil star had brought him in
contact with the Indians as they were hunting the wild horses.
"What is the name of your guide?"
"Cuchillo."
Fabian and Bois-Rose glanced at each other.
"Yes," said the latter, "there is some probability that your suspicions
about that white demon were correct, and that he is conducting the
expedition to the Golden Valley; but, my child, if we escape these
Indians, we are close to it; and once we are installed there, were they
a hundred, we should succeed in defending ourselves."
This was whispered in Fabian's ear.
"One word more," said Bois-Rose to the wounded man, "and then we shall
leave you to repose. How many men has Don Estevan with him?"
"Sixty."
Bois-Rose now again bathed the head of the wounded Gayferos with cold
water: and the unhappy man, refreshed for the moment, and weakened by
loss of blood, fell into a lethargic sleep.
"Now," continued Bois-Rose, "let us endeavour to build up a rampart
which shall be a little more ball and arrow-proof than this fringe of
moving leaves and reeds. Did you count how many rifles the Indians
had?"
"Seven, I believe," said Pepe.
"Then ten of them are less to be feared. They cannot attack us either
on the right or the left--but perhaps they have made a detour to cross
the river, and are about to place us between two fires."
The side of the islet opposite the shore on which the Indians had shown
themselves was sufficiently defended by enormous roots, bristling like
chevaux-de-frise; but the side where the attack was probably about to
recommence was defended only by a thick row of reeds and osier-shoots.
Thanks to his great strength, Bois-Rose, aided by Pepe, succeeded in
dragging from the end of the islet which faced the course of the stream,
some large dry branches and fallen trunks of trees. A few minutes
sufficed for the two skilful hunters to protect the feeble side with a
rough but solid entrenchment, which would form a very good defence to
the little garrison of the island.
"Do you see, Fabian," said Bois-Rose, "you'll be as safe behind these
trunks of trees as in a stone fortress. You'll be exposed only to the
balls that may be fired from the tops of the trees, but I shall take
care that none of these redskins climb so high."
And quite happy at having raised a barrier between Fabian and death, he
assigned him his post in the place most sheltered from the enemy.
"Did you remark," said he to Pepe, "how at every effort that we made to
break a branch or disengage a block of wood, the island trembled to its
foundation?"
"Yes," said Pepe, "one might think that it was about to be torn from its
base and follow the course of the stream."
The Canadian then cautioned his two companions to be careful of their
ammunition, gave Fabian some instructions as to taking aim, pressed him
to his heart, squeezed the hand of his old comrade, and then the three
stationed themselves at their several posts. The surface of the river,
the tops of the aspens growing on the banks, the banks themselves and
the reeds, were all objects of examination for the hunters, as the night
was fast coming on.
"This is the hour when the demons of darkness lay their snares," said
Bois-Rose, "when these human jaguars seek for their prey. It was of
them that the Scriptures spoke."
No one replied to this speech, which was uttered rather as a soliloquy.
Meanwhile, the darkness was creeping on little by little, and the bushes
which grew on the bank began to assume the fantastic forms given to
objects by the uncertain twilight.
The green of the trees began to look black; but habit had given to
Bois-Rose and to Pepe eyes as piercing as those of the Indians
themselves, and nothing, with the vigilance they were exerting, could
have deceived them.
"Pepe," whispered Bois-Rose, pointing to a tuft of osiers, "does it not
seem to you that that bush has changed its form and grown larger?"
"Yes; it has changed its form!"
"See, Fabian! you have the piercing sight that I had at your age; does
it not appear to you that at the left-hand side of that tuft of osiers
the leaves no longer look natural?"
The young man pushed the reeds on one side, and gazed for a while
attentively.
"I could swear it," said he, "but--" He stopped, and looked in another
direction.
"Well! do you see anything?"
"I see, between that willow and the aspen, about ten feet from the tuft
of osiers, a bush which certainly was not there just now."
"Ah! see what it is to live far from towns;--the least points of the
landscape fix themselves in the memory, and become precious indications.
You are born to live the life of a hunter, Fabian!"
Pepe levelled his rifle at the bush indicated by Fabian.
"Pepe understands it at once," said Bois-Rose; "he knows, like me, that
the Indians have employed their time in cutting down branches to form a
temporary shelter; but I think two of us at least may teach them a few
stratagems that they do not yet know. Leave that bush to Fabian, it
will be an easy mark for him; fire at the branches whose leaves are
beginning to wither--there is an Indian behind them. Fire in the
centre, Fabian!"
The two rifles were heard simultaneously, and the false bush fell,
displaying a red body behind the leaves, while the branches which had
been added were convulsively agitated. All three then threw themselves
on the ground, and a discharge of balls immediately flew over their
heads, covering them with leaves and broken branches, while the war-cry
of the Indians sounded in their ears.
"If I do not deceive myself, they are now but fifteen," said Bois-Rose,
as he quitted his horizontal posture, and knelt on the ground.
"Be still!" added he. "I see the leaves of an aspen trembling more than
the wind alone could cause them to do. It is doubtless one of those
fellows who has climbed up into the tree."
As he spoke, a bullet struck one of the trunks of which the islet was
composed, and proved that he had guessed rightly.
"Wagh!" said the Canadian, "I must resort to a trick that will force him
to show himself."
So saying, he took off his cap and coat, and placed them between the
branches, where they could be seen. "Now," said he, "if I were fighting
a white soldier, I would place myself by the side of my coat, for he
would fire at the coat; with an Indian I shall stand behind it, for he
will not be deceived in the same manner, and will aim to one side of it.
Lie down, Fabian and Pepe, and in a minute you shall hear a bullet
whistle either to the right or the left of the mark I have set up."
As Bois-Rose said this, he knelt down behind his coat, ready to fire at
the aspen.
He was not wrong in his conjectures; in a moment, the balls of the
Indians cut the leaves on each side of the coat, but without touching
either of the three companions, who had placed themselves in a line.
"Ah," cried the Canadian, "there are whites who can fight the Indians
with their own weapons; we shall presently have an enemy the less."
And saying this he fired into the aspen, out of which the body of an
Indian was seen to fall, rolling from branch to branch like a fruit
knocked from its stem.
At this feat of the Canadian, the savage howlings resounded with so much
fury, that it required nerves of iron not to shudder at them. Gayferos
himself, whom the firing had not roused, shook off his lethargy and
murmured, in a trembling voice, "Virgen de los Dolores! Would not one
say it was a band of tigers howling in the darkness?--Holy Virgin! have
pity on me!"
"Thank her rather," interrupted the Canadian; "the knaves might deceive
a novice like you, but not an old hunter like me. You have heard the
jackals of an evening in the forest howl and answer each other as though
there were hundreds of them, when there were but three or four. The
Indians imitate the jackals, and I will answer for it there are not more
that a dozen now behind those trees. Ah! if I could but get them to
cross the water, not one of them should return to carry the news of
their disaster."
Then, as if a sudden thought had flashed across his mind, he directed
his companions to lie down on their backs--in which position they were
protected by the trunks of the trees. "We are in safety as long as we
lie thus," said he, "only keep your eye on the tops of the trees; it is
from these only they can reach us. Fire only if you see them climb up,
but otherwise remain motionless. The knaves will not willingly depart
without our scalps, and must make up their minds at last to attack us."
This resolution of the hunter seemed to have been inspired by heaven,
for scarcely had they laid down before a shower of balls and arrows tore
to pieces the border of reeds, and broke the branches behind which they
had been kneeling a minute before. Bois-Rose pulled down his coat and
hat, as though he himself had fallen, and then the most profound silence
reigned in the island, after this apparently murderous fire. Cries of
triumph followed this silence, and then a second discharge of bullets
and arrows.
"Is not that an Indian mounting the willow?" whispered Pepe.
"Yes, but let us risk his fire without stirring; lie all of us as if we
were dead. Then he will go and tell his companions that he has counted
the corpses of the palefaces."
In spite of the danger incurred by this stratagem, the proposition of
Bois-Rose was accepted, and each remained motionless, watching, not
without anxiety, the manoeuvres of the Indian. With extreme precaution
the red warrior climbed from branch to branch, until he had reached a
point from which he could overlook the whole islet.
There remained just sufficient daylight to observe his movements when
the foliage itself did not hide them. When he had reached the desired
height, the Indian, resting on a thick branch, advanced his head with
precaution. The sight of the bodies extended on the ground appeared not
to surprise him, and he now openly pointed his rifle towards them. This
he did several times, apparently taking aim, but not one of the hunters
stirred. Then the Indian uttered a cry of triumph. "The shark takes
the bait," muttered Bois-Rose.
"I shall recognise this son of a dog," rejoined Pepe, "and if I do not
repay him for the anxiety he has caused me, it is because the bullet he
is about to send will prevent me."
"It is the Blackbird," said Bois-Rose, "he is both brave and dexterous--
lie close!"
The Indian once more took aim, and then fired; a branch knocked from a
tree just above Pepe, fell upon him and hurt his forehead. He stirred
no more than the dead wood against which he leaned, but said, "Rascal of
a redskin, I'll pay you for this before long."
Some drops of blood fell upon the face of the Canadian.
"Is any one wounded?" said he, with a shudder.
"A scratch, nothing more," said Pepe, "God be praised!"
Just then the Indian uttered a cry of joy, as he descended from the tree
on which he had mounted, and the three friends again breathed freely.
And yet some doubt seemed to remain in the minds of the Indians, for a
long and solemn silence followed the manoeuvre of their chief.
The sun had now set, the short twilight had passed away, night had come
on, and the moon shone on the river, yet still the Indians did not stir.
"Our scalps tempt them, but they still hesitate to come and take them,"
said Pepe, who was becoming very tired of doing nothing.
"Patience!" whispered Bois-Rose, "the Indians are like the vultures, who
dare not attack a body until it begins to decay. We may look out for
them by-and-bye. Let us resume our position behind the reeds."
The hunters again quickly knelt down and continued to watch their
enemies.
Before long an Indian showed himself very cautiously, another then
joined him, and both approached with increasing confidence, followed by
others, until Bois-Rose counted ten in the moonlight.
"They will cross the river in file, I expect," said he. "Fabian, you
fire at the first, Pepe will aim at the centre, and I at the last but
one. In that way they cannot all attack together. It will be a
hand-to-hand struggle, but you, Fabian, while Pepe and I wait for them
knife in hand, shall load our rifles and pass them to us. By the memory
of your mother, I forbid you to fight with these wretches."
As the Canadian uttered these words, a tall Indian entered the river,
followed by nine others. All advanced with the utmost caution; they
might have been taken for the shades of warriors returned from the land
of spirits.