A CRY IN THE NIGHT.
We all, more or less, shared Captain Rudstone's curiosity. For a minute
we gazed in silence at the strange marks--the company men stolidly, the
two voyageurs with disdainful shrugs of the shoulders. Pemecan touched
the spot with something like awe, and Christopher Burley followed his
example.
"This is a very odd thing," he muttered. "I wish I could take the
plaster just as it is back to London with me."
"I've seen nothing like it," declared Luke Hutter, "and I've lived in
the wilderness, man and boy, for nigh onto fifty years."
Naturally Fort Beaver having been my home, the rest looked to me to
throw some light on the mystery of the cryptogram--if such it was; but I
was no wiser than they, and they questioned me in vain. I remembered the
fireplace as being always in sound condition, and as my father had never
spoken of the matter, I judged that the marks had been cut years before
his time--perhaps during the youth of my maternal grandfather.
"It may be so, Mr. Carew," said Christopher Burley; "but to my mind the
work is of more recent date. I should say the stone had been purposely
removed, and then put back after the hieroglyphics were carved on the
plaster. I would take a copy, but unfortunately I have no material at
hand--"
"It would be a useless waste of time, sir, if you had," Captain Rudstone
interrupted, almost fiercely. "The characters are meaningless. I'll
warrant 'tis but a jest on the part of some crack-brained hunter or
trapper, or possibly one of the laborers who built the fort. And surely
we have more serious matters to think about!"
"Ay, that is true!" I assented, wondering meanwhile at the captain's
earnestness. "Cryptogram or not, we'll leave it for wiser heads than
ours! Come, reset the stone!"
Baptiste and Carteret lifted the fragments of the slab, and fitted them
into place again. That done, I ceased to think of the mystery, and it
was not subsequently referred to.
It was a great relief, after the hardships at the fort and the exposure
of the long march, to have a shelter over us once more. The danger of
pursuit was a specter that had faded behind us, and we counted on
reaching Fort Charter at the end of another day's journey. We found some
rickety stools and benches, and drawing them around the roaring fire, we
ate our simple meal with thankful hearts. Flora sat beside me, and I
watched her lovely face, now pensive, now radiant with happiness and
love, as the flickering glow of the flames played upon it. I held
myself a lucky man to have won such a treasure.
But we were devouring almost the last of our food; indeed, when supper
was finished nothing remained but a sack of cornmeal and half a pound of
dried fish. It was necessary to provide for the next day, since we would
march but poorly on empty stomachs and so we arranged a plan that we had
partly settled on that morning.
The suggestion was mine. About five miles to the east, in a hilly and
timbered bit of country, a spring bubbled up, so cold and swift that it
never froze near its source. The deer and other game knew it, and came
to the place by day and night to drink, and there I proposed to guide
one or two of my companions.
"We are certain to be back before midnight," I said, "for we can make
the round trip in less than three hours. And I'll promise venison for
breakfast--or perhaps moose meat."
"Will it be safe to use firearms?" asked Christopher Burley.
"I don't think there is any risk," I answered. "There are no Indian
villages within many miles, and as for our old enemies, they are
probably searching for us in the neighborhood of the trail to Fort
York."
To this Carteret and some of the other men assented. They were all eager
to go with me.
"I wish you would stay behind, Denzil," Flora said wistfully.
"But I alone know the exact spot where the deer drink," I answered.
"Have no fear; I will return safely."
"At least let me sit up until you come," she pleaded.
"I am afraid I must say no," I replied. "You need sleep and rest too
badly. And here, between these walls, you will be as safe as if you were
in Fort Charter."
Flora yielded without further words, but there was an appealing, anxious
look in her eyes that I remembered afterward. Twilight had turned to
darkness, and no time was lost in preparing for the start. I chose to
accompany me Carteret and Captain Rudstone; and I fancied the latter was
ill pleased at his selection though he spoke otherwise. We donned coats
and caps, strapped our snowshoes on our feet, and looked to the loading
and priming of our muskets.
As a matter of precaution, I decided to set a watch outside the fort
while we were gone--and indeed through the night--and Malcolm Cameron
volunteered for the service. On pretense of showing Flora something I
found an opportunity to snatch a kiss from her lips and to whisper a few
foolish words into her ear. A little room to one side had been reserved
for her, and a comfortable bed made of blankets. The rest were to sleep
around the fireplace.
The moon was shining from a starry sky and the air was still and cold
when the three of us started away. We waved our hands to Cameron, who
was at the stockade gates, and plunged eastward into the forest. I led
off, and Captain Rudstone and Carteret followed in single file.
At the first I was troubled by a vague premonition of coming disaster,
which, in default of sound reason, I set down to Flora's ill-concealed
solicitude for my safety. But when we had gone a mile or so this feeling
wore off, and I enjoyed the exhilaration of striding on snowshoes over
the frozen crust, through the silent solitudes of the wilderness, by
rock and hill and moonlit glade. Never had the spell of the Great Lone
Land thrilled me more deeply. Watchful and alert, we glided on from tree
to tree, our shadows trailing behind us, and the evergreen recesses of
the wood stretching on all sides like black pits. Birds and beasts were
still; the only sound was the light crunch of our feet, the crackle now
and then of a fallen twig.
Not a word was spoken until we came to a gap between two mighty hills, a
short distance beyond which, on the verge of a flat of marshland, lay
the spot we sought. Then I briefly explained to my companions what we
must do.
We made a detour in a semicircle, working our way around to the right
side of the wind, and so approached the spring. The cover of bushes and
trees ended fifty yards short of it, and with the utmost caution we
progressed that far. Crouching on the hard crust, scarcely daring to
breathe, we peeped out.
I had expected to see several head of game, at the least, and I was
disappointed. Only one was in sight--a fair-sized buck. He was drinking
at the source of the spring, and the moonlight glistened on his pronged
antlers and on the bubbling water.
"We have but a single chance," I said in a whisper. "We must run no risk
of losing it. I take it you are a good shot, Captain Rudstone?"
"I have twice killed my man in a duel," was the curt reply.
"Then you and I will fire together," I continued, "when I count three.
And do you reserve your ball, Carteret, if by any chance we both miss.
Ready now!"
"All right," said the captain, as he took aim.
"One--two--three!" I whispered.
Bang! The two reports were simultaneous. Under the rising powder smoke
the buck was seen to spring in air and then topple over in a quivering
mass, dead beyond a doubt. The crashing echoes rolled away into the
depths of the forest. We were on our feet instantly, ready to run
forward with drawn knives; but before we could do so an unexpected thing
checked us. Up the valley behind us, from a point no great distance off,
rang a shrill, wavering call. As we listened, staring at one another
with alarmed faces, we heard the sound again. And now it was a plain
call for help.
"What man can be in this lonely spot?" exclaimed Carteret. "Our ears
deceive us. It is the scream of a crafty panther we hear."
"No; it is a human voice," muttered the captain. "I'll swear to that.
But I am afraid of a trick."
"If enemies were about they would have no need to lure us," I replied.
"Come, let us see what it means."
I started in the direction of the sound, and my companions followed me.