THE PERIL OF KATE
"WHAT have we here, Henri?" exclaimed the man Kate had seen. She was
struggling in the rude grasp of the other fellow, but was like a baby
in the clutch of his powerful hands.
"I am surprised, Jacques, at what I have here," was the reply, in
French. "This girl, she surely must be the same we know lives in the
cabin, up on the Ohio, belonging to our enemy, Armstrong. Yes, I am not
mistaken. But what brings her down in this country of the Mississippi?"
Evidently both French trappers were astounded to see Kate there. Many
hundreds of miles stood between the little settlement far up the Ohio
and this region; and in those primitive days this represented an almost
insurmountable obstacle.
"Look again and make sure, Henri," said the other fellow, himself
striding forward to leer into the face of the terrified girl, who by
now understood that these men were the rascals who had given them so
much trouble, trying to injure both Sandy and Bob, and finally robbing
their cabin home when it was in the grip of the flood.
Why, one of them was even then wearing the wonderful wampum belt
which Pontiac himself had bestowed upon the boys as an emblem of his
friendship, and as a protection to their home against the savage fury
of any Indians who belonged to the great confederation of which he was
the leader.
"Well, what do you say now, Jacques?" demanded the first trapper, with
a chuckle.
"_Sacre!_ it is as you say; hard to believe as it is, she must be the
same girl. Ha! I have an idea! It may explain the sound of the axes
which we heard such long time on the trail now, as we come back once
more to our old campground. See, there is the little boat she paddle
down the river in. I begin to scent the truth now, Henri."
"Then supposing you inform me as to the same, since I am groping in the
dark," demanded the other Frenchman.
"It may be that, if we but come closer to the old camp, we shall find
it occupied by some of the hateful English settlers. I would not put
it past them to descend the Ohio in a flatboat, till they come here.
They have the nerve to face all the French along the Mississippi. And,
Henri, among the rest is our old enemy, Armstrong. So you see now how
the girl comes to be here."
They stared at each other as though hardly able to believe the facts
thus presented by the shrewd statement made by Jacques Larue.
Meanwhile Kate had almost ceased her struggles, because she could only
with difficulty breathe, having that broad palm thrust over her mouth,
and gripped, as she was, in the strong arm of the trapper.
Oh! how she wished that her brave brothers would only appear just then,
and take these two ruffians to task for all they had done. How like
savages they looked, in her eyes, with their brutal faces. And Henri
Lacroix was not a bit careful as he held her, so that she might not
scream, and thus give the alarm. What would they do with her? The very
thought brought a cold chill to the poor girl.
Once Kate had been taken prisoner by a young Indian chief belonging to
the Iroquois nation, and carried far away to the country of the Great
Lakes. Eventually she had been rescued by her two brothers, assisted
by others, and brought back safely home. But she would never forget
what she had suffered in mind during the time of her captivity.
And yet she really feared these two rough men more than she had the
Indians. As she looked into their snapping black eyes, she seemed to
see lurking there passions that would stop at nothing, even murder,
in order to carry out any mad scheme to which they had turned their
attention. Even the girl could realize how Henri Lacroix longed to
avenge the death of his brother, Armand, at the hands of Simon Kenton,
the friend of the Armstrong family.
If she could only manage to give one loud cry, surely some one would
hear; and at any rate these cowardly French trappers, becoming alarmed
for their safety, would drop her, and take to their heels, fearing lest
the settlers shoot them down like wolves. But Henri Lacroix evidently
did not mean to give her the slightest chance to make any outcry,
judging from the way in which he kept his hand over her mouth.
"This is no place for us, Jacques," he was saying now, nodding his head
in the direction whence came the steady plod of the axes.
"But I hate to go away, and leave them no token of our good wishes,"
remarked the second trapper, with a wide grin that somehow made poor
Kate tremble again.
If only they would let her speak, how gladly would she have promised
not to whisper a single word about their having been near by, until
hours had elapsed, and they had a chance to get clear away; but Henri
Lacroix would not give her that chance, in fear lest she bring vengeful
foes down about their ears.
"Ve haf a long bill to settle wif zem boys," remarked Lacroix, in his
broken English.
"It took us some time to strike von blow, when we lay hold upon zis
belt; and when we come away to ze country of ze Mississippi we do not
expect evaire to set eyes again on zem. But, _parbleu_! ze fools follow
us here; zey even dare build zere hateful Eenglish cabins on zis river
zat belongs to ze French alone. Zat is too much for us to stand. For ze
lilies of France we must strike a blow zat vill tell zem zey nevaire
can remain here."
"I am of ze same opinion," declared the other Frenchman, gritting his
strong white teeth in a way that renewed all the fears of the captive
girl.
Were these men even more savage than the redskins, and would they
actually kill her, as she had heard of others being treated by whites
who had joined forces with the Indians in the cruel wars that were
always in progress?
"It is plain, when we leave here, we cannot be trouble with the girl,"
observed Jacques Larue, in French. Then, as he seemed to allow his
roving eyes to glance toward the river, just seen through openings in
the trees, a grim smile broke over his swarthy face, while he went
on speaking: "Ha! I have deescovered a plan that promises well. It
will not only get rid of the _ma'm'selle_ in a fine way, but at the
same time strike a blow at our old enemy, Armstrong. The boys perhaps
may not feel so proud because they once get the better of your dead
brother, Armand Lacroix, and Jacques Larue."
"Tell me your plan, then; and, since we are now in a place of much
danger, the quicker we put it into operation the better, it may be,"
said Henri.
"Listen," the other went on, quickly. "Let us bind this girl so she
cannot run away. Also we will fasten over her mouth a bandage, and that
will prevent any outcry and call for help."
"Yes, and then?" asked Henri Lacroix.
"We can lay her in the boat she has down here," continued Jacques.
"Then, after we have tucked her in, _pouf_! the little boat sails from
the shore, and is carried down the current of the mighty Mississippi!
Day and night it floats on, the sport of wind and waves. And the
Armstrongs will never know what became of the girl!"
Even the cruel Henri seemed to be a little disturbed at the inhumanity
exhibited in this plan of revenge; but, as he remembered the fate of
his brother, he crushed any objections he might have advanced, and
nodded his head, as though agreeing with his mate.
"You are right, it is a beautiful idea," he declared. "The only thing
that I like not is the fact that we cannot ourselves see how they feel
when they not be able to find the daughter. Ah! it is a noble scheme!
Let us then begin the good work by fastening the hands of our captive."
He took out some stout buckskin thongs, of which every borderer carried
a supply, as they were useful in many ways. Kate tried the best she
knew how to interfere with his brutal designs, but in the power of
those two men she was as weak as a babe, and before three minutes had
passed her hands had been tightly lashed together behind her back.
After that the trapper proceeded to secure her ankles in the same way,
so that she felt herself absolutely helpless.
"Now for the beautiful gag," said Jacques, when this part of the
undertaking had been completed.
He took out of the pack he carried a piece of cloth, which he managed
to fasten across the mouth of the girl in such a fashion that, while
she could still breathe with some effort, speech was impossible.
At any rate, they apparently did not mean to bring about her immediate
death. Perhaps they feared lest, in such a case, some of those hardy
English rangers might set out on their trail, with the determination
never to leave it until they had avenged the fate of Armstrong's
daughter.
"How will that do, Henri, _mon cher_?" asked Jacques, gaily, stepping
back to admire his own handwork, with the air of an expert.
"Capital! I congratulate you, Jacques, on being such a good hand at
such work," the other answered. "Perhaps Armstrong will follow the boat
down the river, and rescue the girl; but it will put them to great
trouble, and perhaps they will regret raising a hand to injure Jacques
Larue and Henri Lacroix."
"You carry her to the boat, while I go ahead to make sure nobody may
see us do the work," and, speaking in this strain, the burly trapper
led off, with Henri coming along in the rear, bearing the form of Kate
as easily as though she were a sack of feathers intended for a pillow.
It was found that a little bend of the shore intervened above, so that
the spot where the settlers must have landed could not be seen. They
caught a glimpse of the extreme outer edge of the tied-up flatboat,
which fact told the trappers they had guessed truly as to the means
taken by the Ohio settlers in descending to the region of the
Mississippi.
Henri deposited the helpless form of the girl in the bottom of the
dugout. Then, with a heartlessness that seemed to be a part of their
half-savage natures, the two French trappers shoved the boat away from
the shore.
It was immediately caught by the current that flowed more swiftly at
this point than above, and began to drift down-stream. The Frenchmen
dared not wait, lest, in exposing themselves they be discovered by
hostile eyes; but, with more or less laughter that, reaching the ears
of the alarmed girl, must have added to her tortures, they turned and
plunged again into the woods.
And the little boat, passing on into swifter waters, was soon swirling
and dancing gaily on the bosom of the broad Mississippi, bearing Kate
Armstrong further and further away from all those she held dear.