IM THE JAWS OF THE TIGER
We chatted carelessly about many things, as we rode slowly onward, our
unguided horses following those in advance along the well-marked trail
close beside the water along the sandy beach. Mademoiselle was full of
life and bubbling over with good-humor; while De Croix, having found
the essentials of his toilet safe, grew witty and light of speech, even
interesting me now and then in the idle words that floated to my
ears,--for he managed to monopolize the attention of the young girl so
thoroughly that after a little time I sat silent in my saddle, scarce
adding a word to their gay tilt, my eyes and thought upon the changing
scene ahead.
I know not why, as I reflect calmly upon the incidents of that morning,
I should have grown so confident that the savages meant us fair; yet
this feeling steadily took possession of me, and I even began to regret
that I had not stayed behind in quest of her for whom I had come so
far. Surely it was hopeless for me to dangle longer beside
Mademoiselle, for De Croix knew so well the little ins and cuts of
social intercourse that I was like a child for his play. Moreover, it
was clear enough that the girl liked him, or he would never presume so
to monopolize her attention. That she saw through much of his vain
pretence, was indeed probable; her words had conveyed this to me.
Nevertheless, it was plain she found him entertaining; he was like a
glittering jewel in that rough wilderness, and I was too dull of brain
and narrow of experience to hope for success against him in a struggle
for the favor of a girl so fair and gay as this Toinette.
I thought the matter all out as I rode on through the sunlight, my eyes
upon the painted savages who trooped along upon our right in such
stolid silence and seeming indifference, my ears open to the light
badinage and idle compliments of my two companions. Yes, it would be
better so. When the Indians left the column at the head of the lake, I
would invent some excuse that might allow me to accompany them on their
return, and I would remain in the neighborhood of the Fort until Elsa
Matherson had been found.
Just in front of us, a large army wain struggled along through the
yielding sand, drawn by a yoke of lumbering oxen. The heavy canvas
cover had been pushed high up in front, and I could see a number of
women and children seated upon the bedding piled within, and looking
with curious interest at the stream of Indians plodding moodily beside
the wheels. Some of the little tots' faces captivated me with their
expression of wide-eyed wonder, and I rode forward to speak with them;
for love of children is always in my heart.
As I turned my horse to draw back beside Mademoiselle, my eyes rested
upon the stockade of the old Fort, now some little distance in our
rear; and to my surprise it already swarmed with savages. Not less
than five hundred Indians,--warriors, all of them, and well
armed,--tramped as guards beside our long and scattered column, yet
hundreds of others were even now overrunning the mound and pouring in
at the Fort gates, eager for plunder. I could hear their shouting,
their fierce yells of exultation, while the grim and silent fellows who
accompanied us never so much as glanced around, although I caught here
and there the glint of a cruel, crafty eye. The sight made me wonder;
and I swung my long rifle out from the straps at my back down across
the pommel of my saddle, more ready to my hand.
The trail we had been following now swerved nearer the lake, deflected
somewhat by a long high ridge of beaten sand, separating the shore from
the prairie. Here the two advancing lines of white and red diverged,
the Indians moving around to the western side of the sand-ridge, while
Captain Wells and his Miami scouts continued their march along the
beach. There was nothing about this movement to awaken suspicion of
treachery, for the beach at this point had narrowed too much for so
great a number moving abreast, and it was therefore only natural that
our allies should seek a wider space for their marching, knowing they
could easily reunite with us a mile or so below, where the beach
broadened again. Their passing thus from our sight was a positive
relief; and so quiet did everything become, except for groaning wheels
and the heavy tread of horses, that Mademoiselle glanced up in surprise.
"Why, what has become of the Indians?" she questioned. "Have they
already left us?"
I pointed to the intervening sand-ridge.
"They move parallel with us, but prefer to walk upon the prairie grass
rather than these beach pebbles. For my part, I would willingly
dispense with their guard altogether; for in my judgment we are of
sufficient strength to defend ourselves."
"Ay, strong enough against savages," interposed De Croix, his eyes upon
the straggling line ahead; "yet if by any chance treachery was
intended, surely I never saw military formation less adapted for
repelling sudden attack. Mark how those fellows march out yonder!--all
in a bunch, and with not so much as a corporal's guard to protect the
wagons!"
I was no soldier then, and knew little of military formation; but his
criticism seemed just, and I ventured not upon answering it. Indeed,
at that very moment some confusion far in front, where Captain Wells
led his scouts, attracted my attention. We must have been a mile and a
half from the Fort by this time, and I recalled to memory the little
group of trees standing beside the trail where we had halted on our
journey westward to enjoy our earliest glimpse of Dearborn. At first I
could make out little of what was taking place ahead; then suddenly I
saw the squad of Miamis break hastily, like a cloud swept by a whirling
wind, and the next instant could clearly distinguish Captain Wells
riding swiftly back toward the column of infantry, his head bare, and
one arm gesticulating wildly. In a moment the whole line came to a
startled and wondering pause.
"What is it?" questioned Mademoiselle anxiously, shading her eyes.
"Have the Indians attacked us?"
"God knows!" I exclaimed, clinching my rifle firmly. "But it must
be,--look there!"
Wheeling rapidly into line, as if at command, although we could hear no
sound of the order, the soldiers poured one quick volley into the
sand-ridge on their right, and then, with a cheer which floated faintly
back to us, made a wild rush for the summit. This was all I saw of the
struggle in front,--for, with a cry of dismay, the Miamis composing the
rearguard broke from their posts beside the wagons and came running
back past us in a panic of wild terror. I saw Sergeant Jordan throw
himself across their line of flight, striking fiercely with his gun,
and cursing them for a pack of cowardly hounds; but he was thrown
helplessly aside in their blind rush for safety.
"Wayland! De Croix!" he shouted, staggering to his knees, "help me
stop these curs, if you would save our lives!"
It was a fool thing, yet in the excitement I did it, and De Croix was
beside me. Two or three of the settlers on foot rallied with us, and
together we struck so hard against those cowering renegades that for
the moment we held them, though their fear gave them desperation
difficult to withstand. I recall noticing De Croix, as he pressed his
rearing horse into the huddled mass, lashing at the faces of the
fellows mercilessly with his riding-whip, as if thinking Mademoiselle
would admire his reckless gallantry.
A wild yell, with the mad thrill of the war-whoop in it, suddenly
assailed our ears; the Miamis broke to the left like a flock of
frightened birds, and my startled glance revealed a horde of naked
Indians, howling like maniacs, and with madly brandished weapons,
pouring over the sand-ridge not thirty feet away from us. With a shout
of warning, which was half a curse at my own mad folly, I drove the
spurs deep into my horse's side in a vain endeavor to fling myself
between them and the girl. Hardly had the startled animal made one
quick plunge, when we were locked in that human avalanche as if gripped
by a vise of steel. A dozen dark hands grasped my bridle or clutched
at me, their swarthy faces fierce with blood-lust, the eyes that
fronted me cruel with passion and inflamed by hate. I heard shots not
far away; but we were all too closely jammed to do more than fight in a
desperate hand-to-hand struggle with club and knife.
The saddle is a poor place from which to swing a rifle, yet I stood
high in my wooden stirrups and struck madly at every Indian head I saw,
battering their faces till from the very horror of it they gave slowly
back. I won a yard--two yards--three,--my horse biting viciously at
their naked flesh, and lashing out with both fore-feet like a fiend,
while I swept my gun-stock in a widening circle of death. For the
moment, I dreamed we might drive them back; but then those devils
blocked me, clinging to my horse's legs in their death agony, and
laughing back into my face as I struck them down.
Once I heard De Croix swearing in French beside me, and glanced around
through the mad turmoil to see him cutting and hacking with broken
blade, pushing into the midst of the mêlée as if he had real joy in the
encounter. While I thus had him in view, a knife whistled through the
air, there was a quick dazzle in the sunlight, and he reeled backward
off his horse and disappeared in the ruck below.
Never in a life of fighting have I battled as I did then, feeling that
I alone might hope to reach her side and beat back these foul fiends
till help should come to us. The stock of my rifle shattered like
glass; but I swung the iron barrel with what seemed to me the strength
of twenty men, striking, thrusting, stabbing, my teeth set, my eyes
blurring with a mist of blood, caring for nothing except to hit and
kill. I know not now whether I advanced at all in that last effort,
though my horse trod on dead bodies. Only once in those awful seconds
did I gain a glimpse of Mademoiselle through the mist of struggle, the
maze of uplifted arms and striking steel. She had reined her horse
back against a wheel of the halted wagon, and with white face and
burning eyes was lashing desperately with the loaded butt of her
riding-whip at the red hands which sought to drag her from the saddle.
The sight maddened me, and again my spurs were driven into my horse's
flanks. As he plunged forward, some one from behind struck me a
crushing blow across the back of the head, and I reeled from my saddle,
a red mist over my eyes, and went hurling face downward upon the mass
of reeling, tangled bodies.