ANOTHER VISITOR.
That the redskins were making an attack in force on the stockade was my
first and immediate conclusion, but it gave me no great uneasiness since
I knew how stoutly we were protected. On second thoughts, however, I
observed that the shots and yells--which were keeping up lustily--came
from a considerable distance, and I began to suspect that something else
was in the wind.
Meanwhile, I had not been standing idle. As soon as I heard the alarm I
ran like a deer across the yard. It was the work of an instant to dash
into the quarters and seize my musket. Then I sped on, with a great
clamor rising from every part of the fort and armed men hastening right
and left of me.
When I reached the gates, where a little group was assembled, no more
than a minute could have elapsed since the outbreak. I passed on to the
nearest watch tower--it was near by--and darted up the ladder which led
to the second floor. Here there were good-sized loopholes commanding a
view of the north and east fronts of the stockade. Half a dozen men were
watching from them, and above their excited voices I heard the crack of
muskets and the whooping chorus of savages.
"What's going on?" I demanded. "They are not attacking the fort?"
"No, not that, Carew," cried one. "The redskins are chasing some poor
devils who were bound here. Ah, they have turned on them! Plucky
fellows!"
"Will you stand here, sir? Look yonder--quick!"
It was the voice of Baptiste, who was at one of the loopholes. He made
room for me, and I peered eagerly out. The view was straight to the
north, and what I saw turned my blood hot with anger.
Less than a quarter of a mile away, where the white, moonlit clearing
ended at a narrow forest road running parallel with the river, the
sorely-harassed little group was in plain sight--a sledge, a team of
dogs, and three men kneeling on the snow. They were exchanging shots
with a mass of Indians, who were dancing about on the verge of the
timber, and were for the moment being held at bay. I could see the red
flashes, and the wreaths of gray smoke against the dark green of the
trees.
"They had better make a dash for it," exclaimed Baptiste.
"Now is their chance."
"We are all cowards," I cried indignantly. "A party could have dashed out
to the rescue by this time."
"Just my opinion, Carew," said a man named Walker. "But who was to give
the orders? They must come from the factor. He's down at the gates now,
and plenty with him."
"Then I'll get his permission to go out," I cried hotly. "Will you
volunteer, men?"
But as I spoke--I had not taken my eyes from the loophole--the situation
suddenly took a different turn. The Indians yelled with triumph, and I
saw one of the three white men toss up his arms and fall over. At that
his companions wheeled about, the one leaping upon the sledge, while the
other ran toward the dog leader of the team.
"Only two left!" I shouted. "They are coming! Now for a lively race! God
help them to reach the fort!"
"By Heavens, sir! they'll get in if they are quick!" cried Walker, who
was on the other side of the tower. "Hawke knows what to do; he is
opening the gates! The men are loading their muskets! They are bringing
up the howitzer."
His last sentence I scarcely heard, for I had already left the loophole
and was scrambling down the ladder. The next instant I was at the double
gates, one of which had been unbarred and thrown wide open. A dozen men
were lined up on each side of the entrance, among them Menzies and the
factor.
"Stand back," Griffith Hawke shouted at me. "Keep the way clear!"
But I edged up to the front, where my view was uninterrupted. How my
heart leaped to see the sledge gliding over the snow, the man inside and
the one on snowshoes shouting at the plucky, galloping dogs! But they
still had one hundred and fifty yards to come, not far behind them,
whooping and yelling, firing musket and hurling tomahawks, were at least
two score of redskins--the most of them on snowshoes. Crack, crack,
crack! They seemed to be aiming poorly, for the sledge swept on, dogs
and men uninjured.
"Be ready!" cried the factor: "make room there! The moment the sledge
dashes in let the red devils have a volley--muskets and howitzer!"
What happened next, though it was all over in the fraction of a minute,
was intensely exciting and tragic. The tower being high up, the men
posted there were now opening fire; lusty cheers rose as we saw a couple
of Indians go down in the snow.
Bang, bang! a hit this time. The man on snowshoes staggered, reeled,
fell over. His comrade turned and shot as the sledge swept on--more than
that he could not do. Whether the poor fellow was dead or living we
never knew; but nothing mattered the next instant, for the foremost
savages reached the spot, and there was the quick gleam of a descending
tomahawk.
Fifty yards now to the stockade! In spite of the fire from the tower,
the Indians bore on. They let drive another straggling volley, and with
a convulsive spring in air, the leading dog of the team dropped dead. In
a trice the rest of the dogs, pulled up abruptly, were in a hopeless
tangle. The sledge dashed into them, grated sidewise, and tipped over,
sending its occupant sprawling on the snow.
I gave the poor fellow up for lost, but his pluck and wits were equal to
the emergency. He sprang to his feet, and without looking behind him or
stopping to pick up his musket, he struck out for the fort. On he sped,
running in a zigzag course, while the now halted Indians blazed away at
him, and our men cheered and shouted.
"Watch sharp!" cried Griffith Hawke.
As he spoke the fugitive swerved a little, and ten strides brought him
to the gates. He rushed safely past me, and staggered into the
inclosure.
Already the baffled redskins had scattered in flight, but they were not
to get off so easily. From the marksmen in the watch-tower and at the
stockade loopholes, from as many of our eager men as could line up
outside the gates, a hot and deadly fire was poured. A way was cleared
for the howitzer, and the roar that burst from its iron throat woke a
hundred forest echoes.
A great cloud of bluish smoke hid the scene for a moment, and when it
drifted and rolled upward, our short-lived opportunity was gone. With
almost incredible speed the savages had melted away, and were safe in
the shelter of the adjacent timber. They had taken some of their dead
and wounded with them, as well as the dogs and sledge; but six or seven
bodies lay sprinkled darkly here and there on the snow crust.
Nor were the casualties all on one side, as we now had time to observe.
The last volley delivered by the Indians had killed one of our party and
wounded two more. The men were for sallying out against the foe, but
Griffith Hawke would have none of it.
"The devils are in ambush," he cried, "and would give us the worst of
it. We'll need our powder and ball later, I'm thinking. Make all secure
yonder, and be quick about it."
I helped to close and bar the gate, and then pushed into the thick of
the clamorous crowd that surrounded the escaped traveler. I had fancied
I recognized him when he shot by me, and now the first glimpse told me I
was right, for the fugitive was none other than Captain Myles Rudstone.