THE YAGER'S "TREATY TALK" WITH OUR HERO.
In a few minutes the two met, and cordially gripped hands.
"Well?" demanded Jim, curtly.
"An hour after you and your company marched by, so the Cherokee said,
I met him. He was puzzling out something of a Chinese puzzle which you
left for his wits. He told me that I should meet you here, and the
time."
"Jes' so. Why didn't he come along?"
"Really, I do not know, Mr. Ridge," answered Ranald, smiling, for it
was our amateur woodman; "I will add, if you will allow it, that you
probably know better than I do. All he said was that you had given him
something to do that would oblige him to turn back."
"That's so, too. I was afeard he would not understand my 'collar of
wampum,' my forest letter," said Ridge.
"Oh, don't you cherish any alarm on that head. It struck me that
Williams read your forest letter, as you style it, as easily as I
should a page in a book--with this advantage, that he could do it
in the dark with his fingers if need be. You are wonderful with your
devices! But here I am; deal with me as you see fit."
"I want to hear you first," said Ridge. "We are quite alone here. You
have seen the young lady, towards whom I think you feel tenderly, and
have brushed up against Captain Kidd, the old pirate! Say your say
about them."
The young Englishman reflected a while, and not till then did he reply,
in a voice still unsteady with emotion, "If I were facing any other man
than one whom I esteem as the King of the Wilderness; if I supposed you
had any other sentiments in your heart than those which all, white,
red and yellow, acknowledge to be worthy, I should speak out thus--I
am a rich man in England, and will give you half my property for your
inestimable help to free that poor young lady."
He fixed an anxious gaze on the hunter.
"Well, I ain't that style of man," said the latter; "and seeing you are
facing me, what do you say?"
"To you, Jim Ridge," went on the young lover, with tears in his eyes,
"I have to say this--I am really in anguish, and my heart is aching
with apprehension. Those women surrounded by merciless reprobates--'tis
a horrible situation. Counting that lad Leon the Drudge as a man, he
and the Carcajieu and myself are a mere mouthful among the ogres.
Except yourself and friends and the kernel of Sir Archie's ill-fated
expedition, these wilds seem to swarm with dangers, not the least of
which are human. To enable me to help those ladies, I will pledge you
my life if I can only lay it down to save you and those dear to you
some day. I am a newcomer here, Mr. Ridge, but I have already perceived
that all bow to your will. Your incontestable superiority is owned by
your enemies themselves."
"Well, Mr. Dearborn, I am inclined to believe we shall weld up the
thing. Don't call it a bargain, that's all. But let us step away from
here lively. It is no place for a treaty talk. In a short time, by that
distant thunder, which is rolling snow and water, there will be a rise
here, and we may be drowned, ay and frozen."
Ranald followed the veteran Westerner without a word. This reading
signs of natural disturbances from afar impressed him powerfully. His
guide went round the worn boulder, ascended some steps rudely shaped by
time in the granite, and after gliding in at a cleft hardly at first
allowing them to squeeze through, reached a deep cave not perceptible
from without.
"One of my favourite nooks," observed Jim, taking matches from a dry
corner, with which he ignited an elk fat candle, and then kindling
a fire of ready piled wood behind a rocky mantle. "Nobody knows it
except Bill Williams and me. You are the first outsider let in. We
are quite secure. Neither inquisitive eyes nor greedy ears are open
on us here; nothing but the dead are at hand," stamping lightly on
a gentle eminence. "They, at any rate, keep a still tongue. Who are
they? Men like myself, who show the settler the way to the best sites
for towns where thousands of happy children will peacefully learn and
play and grow up without even hearing our names. Such is the explorer's
fate. But the flame mounts brightly--away with black thoughts. To our
concerns; speak out straight and clear. It is needful that I should
know your story completely, that I may see how you intend acting by
that young lady for whom you own a tenderness. Then, here's my hand."
"I have nothing to keep back, sir. I thank God that even my youthful
follies are not such as man blames harshly. My full title is Sir Ranald
Dearborn Ivyson, a baronet of Teviotdale. My family, my position in the
country and monetarily, are more than merely good. I was amusing myself
with travel without any particular aim, when I met Miss Maclan at a
garrison ball in Canada, and fell in love with her--at least, I thought
the passion not shallow, but its full depth was immeasurable till I
found her in danger."
"That's so, boy--it's like the freeze--go sudden to a fire, and mark
how it smarts."
"There's not a doubt of it now. When your friend, Williams, directed
her to give herself up to Captain Kidd's men, I felt my love almost
overthrow my reason, for, though that told me he was ordering the best
course, my sentiment urged me to disobey, and throw my life away by
desperately preventing her being touched by those scoundrels!"
"Bill is a wise man!" interpolated Ridge. "His father was a large
dictionary--he's the pocket-size--but the same amount of larning,
pretty nigh, in both. But go on, you must be back within Kidd's camp by
sunup."
"I have no more to say. When we rescue that young lady, and I place her
in civilisation once more, I shall give her time to let mere gratitude
die out, and then offer myself. If she accepts, I shall be a happy man.
If she rejects, I--I--well, either a soldier I'll be, or I'll come and
join you in your roving career--a miserable, heartbroken man!"
"A desirable recruit!" said Jim, with his low laugh. "Wall, it 'pears
you are bound to do the right thing. I believe you, and this is a more
solemn engagement than you had before. We shall help you."
"Thanks!"
"How are you thriving with the Cap.?"
"How am I getting on with Kidd? I have succeeded in deceiving him."
"Ah, but for how long? He's a cute devil. At the least suspicion, he
will pin you to a tree, or riddle you with a repeater!"
"I shall take care not to rouse his mistrust," answered Ranald, with a
smile of confidence.
"Heaven help you--you are the circus boy, who, seeing the lion tamer go
into the cage so easily every day, offers to perform the critters the
first day he falls sick. However, youth will be boastful. In any case,
rely on me. That American girl is the daughter of my brother's son. And
another belief of mine is all out of the tie if that poor young lad
is not her brother Lewis. This depends, perhaps, on finding out who
their gaoler is--this Kidd, in reality. Soon the means of identifying
the children will be at hand if the father's loving eyes are baffled.
There are more friends and allies yet to be seen by you. An old friend
of my nephew Filditch is due right here, and right now. His name is
Don Gregorio, Peralta, Lewis's uncle. From him, through a trader, come
the 'pointers' that have set me against Captain Kidd. I allow that, so
far, he has thrown me out, but I take a heap of beating, and then I am
not conquered. But he has even bigger enemies than this child. Into his
very camp, travelling along with his crowd from the very jump-off, is
one of his foes, sir. He must have been in communication with you first
off. He has been signalling to us all over the mountain, from smoke and
fires, and played with the axe on trees."
"You allude to the Carcajieu."
"Ay, the Wolverine. You can 'go to sleep in his blanket.' You must
put full confidence in him, for, otherwise, he might upset your plans
without intending it in performing his special duty."
"There's no fear about that. Joe and I have no secrets for one another."
"So much the slicker! Now, we are full forty strong. Before this gang
reaches the Yellowstone Valley, we shall be nearly a hundred, for the
trappers are rallying."
"We are certain to succeed!" exclaimed the Englishman, gleefully.
"Certainty is a brittle twig. But 'our cause it is just,' as the song
says, and we are going to do our utmost. Our enemies are the more to
be dreaded as 'gold or a grave' is a motto that pulls them far. They
are not the first band, though about the biggest, that have started for
the Wonderland. So far we have driven them back, or Nature's scared
them; but that cannot be etarnal. It is not more than a couple of days
that I found out that the leader of these banditti is the notorious
Captain Kidd. He is far down in my book for being the brother of one
Miguel Tadeo, a scoundrel who has dropped through somewhere, though the
frontier is alive with inquiries after him. Kidd is a pestilence, but
Don Miguel is the black plague itself! He is overflowing with spite
against his brother man. If he is hanging around me, why, I haven't
seen a trace yet, and that's bitter on an old trail hunter that's
consulted by guides with a big reputation. So be prudent, young sir,
for you are in the hornets' nest. Kidd will kill you straight, on the
faintest doubt, without any challenge. Other hostiles abound, keep
before you as a fact: the Indians, and those Canadian Half-breeds.
Their chief, Dagard, is a queer mix of good white and bad Injin, and a
crime no more burdens his conscience than the last drink he took. Add
that all the stray pirates of the prairie, hoss thieves, gold diggers,
robbers, and skulks ginerally will flock to Kidd the moment he has
an advantage over us which promises him undisputed passage into the
Enchanted Valley. You see the scales are pulled down agin us!"
"I even have an idee that there's a secret agreement between Kidd,
which includes Don Miguel, and this Dagard. I met more'n once down in
Montana, and even farther south, the Half-breed Margottet, now the
lieutenant of these Red River Rovers. Thar's some big scheme hatching
in the Nor'-West, for the Injins have knocked under to the railroad on
the plains as Big Bad Medicine; but cherish hopes, among the Apaches
away South and up here towards the Queen's country. Ever since the
Sioux were driven over the border, the Half-breeds have been saucy.
Wall, you are doubly, trebly warned, young sir, and must abide by the
consequences."
"Do all I can, I cannot pierce Kidd's game. Something in his
proceedings upsets my calculations. If he were not so notorious
during such a long time in the West, I should imagine him--but
that's all nonsense! Anyhow, sir, mind that forgetfulness, rashness,
blindness--they'll ruin, no--well, worse than that, they'll destroy all
those girls and women. There are young men who love as strongly as you,
whose sweethearts are in that band; fathers who sorrow like my nephew,
whose da'ters are there cooped up. But I am glad to know you, sir! We
have had gilt-edged Englishmen out here that brought servants from
London, things in the shape of men, but who my lorded them and your
graced them, and disgraced themselves!--They thought money would buy
every mortal thing even here! No, sir, I am offering you my life, and
Cherokee Bill's, and a score more, but not for cash! You have a manly
nature, that's enough; that kind comes among the same kind when they
talk to the hunter and trapper with no double tongue. The old country
is no decaying tree, sir, when thar's young shoots like you!"
The speaker had been so unusually eloquent, unlike his brief, measured
sentences, that not till now could his hearer get in a word which he
was eager to say.
"I wish to tell you, Ridge, that Joe, whom you praise so highly, while
rather mysteriously, assured me that Kidd is living literally behind a
mask, and that he has seen it laid aside."
"Do tell?" inquired the Old Man of the Mountain.
"He told me that last night, a little thanks to my having fixed on a
capital site over a burrow for the captain's tent, he was able to get
a good look at him after he had unsuspectedly laid aside his daily
disguise."
"Wagh! This is worth hearing."
"He says that the real face belongs to a noted criminal called Hank, or
Henry Brown, which in turn hides one Cornelio de Bustamente."
"Bustamente! Oh! We've heard of him; the great St. Louis Forger!" cried
Ridge. "Oh, why is not Don Gregorio on the spot? However, patience,
patience. But the time is over for our parting. Haste away. I shall not
forget that Kidd is Bustamente. In two days we shall meet again. Trust
to Joe, he's not to be tricked even by such hardened rogues."
"But you do not tell me where we meet?"
"There is a swamp and burnt wooded stretch called Winter Black, or the
Winter Burning."
"I can remember that."
"Good luck! Thank Joe for the clue he gives me. I'll question the boys
on the point. Hurry off to your camp, for you have a distance to go. In
two days, same hour, at Winter Black. Good-bye, boys!"
The two shook hands and left the cavern, departing oppositely at the
mouth.
The rest of the night passed tranquilly. An hour before the false dawn
an owl was heard lamentably hooting as if its night hunt had failed,
and it feared it must go supperless to its couch. But Jim Ridge stood
up, and answered in the same long-drawn, pitiful tones.
Those of the watch must have been more surprised than edified by
the singular dialogue that went on between Old Ridge and his unseen
interlocutor. All the wild beasts and birds of the field, forest,
and mountain seemed engaged in a concert. The calls and defiant
cries of various birds seemed to awaken bears and wild cats, and
the coyotes wailed to the sharply yelping prairie dogs. The sounds
were so arbitrarily arranged, that a conjurer would be puzzled to
distinguish the sense of a single sentence. But the Yager understood it
perfectly, of course, and what is more, seemed quite satisfied with the
information so strangely conveyed to him. When it was over, he went and
awoke an old beaver trapper to take his relief on guard, and remarked:
"Bill has done it! All goes lovely."
At sunrise the hunters resumed their march, though Cherokee Bill had
still not joined. But Ridge again passed no comment on the absence.