DINAH'S EXPLOIT.
The revelation that broke upon the senses of the colored servant did not
reach her through her power of vision. She still saw nothing but the
all-encircling night, nor did she hear anything except the sighing of
the wind through the mesquite bush, or the guarded movements of the red
men below.
It was her power of smell that told her an appalling fact. She detected
the odor of burning wood!
The Indian whom she had heard prowling like a hungry wolf over the roof,
was there for a more sinister purpose, if possible, than that of gaining
entrance through the scuttle into the building. He had managed to climb
undetected to his perch for the purpose of setting fire to the building,
and not only that, but he had succeeded in his design.
[Illustration: A STARTLING DISCOVERY.]
The same delicacy of scent that had told the woman the frightful truth
enabled her to locate the direction of the fire. It was over the peak of
the roof, a little in front and to the left.
Gazing toward the point, she observed a dim glow in the darkness, such
as might have been made by the reflection of a lucifer match. It was the
illumination produced by the twist of flame the Comanche had kindled. If
allowed to burn for a few minutes, the wind would fan it into an
inextinguishable blaze.
How she managed to do what she did without discovery she never could
have explained herself. But, holding the lid firmly grasped with one
hand, she lifted it up until it stood perpendicular on its noiseless
hinges.
As the door moved over to this position, her head and shoulders rose
through the opening. Had her movements been quick, instead of
deliberate, they would have suggested the action of the familiar
Jack-in-the-box.
This straightening of her stature brought her head several inches above
the peak or highest portion of the house, and, consequently, gave her a
view of the entire roof.
And looking in the direction whence the odor came, and where she had
caught the tiny illumination, the brave colored woman saw a sight
indeed.
A brawny Indian warrior was stooped over and nursing a small flame with
the utmost care. How he had managed the difficult business thus far
without detection from below, was almost beyond explanation.
But it followed, from what has been told, that he had climbed upon the
roof, taking with him some twigs and bits of wood, without having been
heard by Captain Shirril, who was listening intently at the lower door,
and who heard more than one other noise that must have been slighter
than that overhead.
It was probable that the warrior, having made his preparations, rode his
horse close to the further corner of the cabin, where he stopped the
animal, and rose to the upright position on his back. The roof was so
low that it could be easily reached in this way, and he was so far
removed from the inmates that his action escaped notice, his presence
being finally discovered in the manner described.
Finding he could not open the scuttle, he had crept over the peak of the
roof, stooped down, and, gathering his combustibles with care, set fire
to them. In doing this, he must have used the common lucifer match of
civilization, since no other means would have answered, and the American
Indian of the border is as quick to appropriate the conveniences as he
is to adopt the vices of the white man.
Be that as it may, he had succeeded in starting the tiny fire, and, at
the moment the wrathful Dinah caught sight of him, was placing several
larger sticks upon the growing flame, and, bending over, was striving to
help the natural wind by blowing upon the blaze.
The picture was a striking one. The glow of the flame showed the
countenance of the Comanche plainly. His features were repellent, the
nose being Roman in form, while the cheek-bones were protuberant and the
chin retreating. His long black hair dangled about his shoulders, and
was parted, as is the custom among his people, in the middle. The face
was rendered more repulsive by the stripes and splashes of yellow,
white, and red paint, which not only covered it from the top of the
forehead to the neck, but was mixed in the coarse hair, a portion of
whose ends rested on the roof, as well as over his back.
As he blew, his cheeks expanded, his thin lips took the form of the
letter O, fringed with radiating wrinkles around the edges, and the
black eyes seemed to glow with a light like that of the fire itself, so
great was his earnestness in his work.
No country boy accustomed to get up on cold mornings and build the
family fires could have done his work better. He saw that while the
sticks which were burning, and which he continued to feed and fan, were
rapidly consuming and growing, they were eating into the dry roof on
which they rested. They had already burned a considerable cavity, which
gleamed like a living coal, and it would not take long before a hold
would be secured that would throw the whole structure into a blaze.
Dinah stood for several seconds gazing on the picture, as though she
doubted the evidence of her own eyes. It seemed impossible that such a
cruel plot should have progressed thus far without being thwarted. But
the next moment her chest heaved with indignation, as she reflected that
the red man stretched out before her was the very one that had tried to
enter her apartment, and being frustrated by her watchfulness in that
design, he was now endeavoring to burn them all to death.
The fact that the Comanche never dreamed of interruption caused him to
withdraw his attention from everything except the business before him,
and he continued blowing and feeding the growing flames with all the
care and skill at his command. His wicked heart was swelling with
exultation when--
Suddenly an object descended upon the flames like the scuttle-door
itself, which might be supposed to have been wrenched from its hinges
and slammed down on the fire, quenching it as utterly and completely as
if it were submerged in a mountain torrent.
_That_ was the foot of Dinah.
Next, as the dumfounded warrior attempted to leap to his feet, something
fastened itself like the claw of a panther in his long hair, with a grip
that not only could not be shaken off, but which threatened to create a
general loosening at the roots.
_That_ was the left hand of Dinah.
At the same moment, when the dazed Comanche had half risen and was
striving to get the hang of things, a vice closed immovably about his
left ankle, and his moccasin was raised almost as high as his shoulder.
The agency in this business was the _right_ hand of Dinah; and instantly
she got in her work with the vigor of a hurricane. She possessed unusual
power and activity, though it must not be supposed that the Comanche
would not have given a good account of himself had he but possessed a
second's warning of what was coming. He had a knife at his girdle,
though his rifle, as has been said, was left behind with his companions,
since his business did not make it likely that he would need anything of
the kind, and it was an inconvenience to keep it by him.
"You onmannerly willian! I'll teach you how to try to sneak frough de
roof into my room!" muttered Dinah, who was now thoroughly aroused, "yer
orter have your neck wringed off and _I'll do it_!"
The Comanche was at vast disadvantage in being seized with such a fierce
grip by the hair, which kept his face turned away from his assailant,
while the vicelike grasp of his ankle compelled him to hop about on one
foot, in a style that was as awkward as it was undignified. He realized,
too, that despite all he could do to prevent it, his foe was forcing him
remorselessly toward the edge of the roof.
But the warrior was sinewy and strong. He had been engaged in many a
desperate hand-to-hand encounter, though never in anything resembling
this. Finding the grip on his hair and ankle could not be shaken off,
he snatched out his keen-pointed knife with the intention of striking
one of his vicious back-handed blows, which had proved fatal more than
once, but just then the eaves were reached and over he went!