JULIAN HEARS SOMETHING.
IN HALF an hour the preparations for the night were all completed,
and Julian surveyed the camp with a smile of satisfaction. There were
twenty wagons in the train, and of these two barricades had been made,
one at the upper and the other at the lower end of the cliffs, as the
guide had directed. The vehicles had been drawn close together, and
were fastened to one another by chains so that they could not be easily
moved from their places. The space between the wheels was blocked up
with plows, harrows, stoves, bedsteads and chairs, thus rendering it a
matter of some difficulty for any one to effect an entrance into the
camp.
While this work was being performed the shadows of twilight had
deepened into the gloom of night, and now all objects outside the
circle of light made by the camp-fires were concealed by Egyptian
darkness. Inside the barricades a scene was presented that was a
cheering one to men wearied with their day’s journey. A dozen fires
blazed along the base of the cliff, and beside them stalwart pioneers
reposed on their blankets, smoking their pipes and watching with
hungry eyes the preparations for supper that were going on around
them. Venison steaks were broiling on the coals, potatoes roasting in
the ashes, and coffee-pots simmered and sputtered, filling the camp
with the odor of their aromatic contents. Cattle and horses cropped
the herbage that grew along the edge of the gully, and noisy children,
all unconscious of the danger that threatened them, rolled about on
the grass, or relieved their cramped limbs by running races along the
road. But, although the camp wore an air of domesticity and security,
preparations for battle were everywhere visible. The saddles and
bridles had not been removed from the horses as usual, the emigrants
wore their revolvers about their waists, and kept their rifles within
easy reach. There were pale faces in that camp, and men who had all
their lives been familiar with danger started and trembled at the
rustle of every leaf.
Julian Mortimer, from a neighboring wagon, on which he had perched
himself to await the return of the guide, watched the scene presented
to his gaze, as he had done every night since leaving St. Joseph, and
bemoaned his hard lot in life.
“Among all these people,” he soliloquized, “there are none that I can
call relatives and friends, and not one even to speak a kind word to
me. How I envy those fellows,” he added, glancing at a couple of boys
about his own age who were seated at the nearest camp-fire conversing
with their parents. “They have a father to watch over them, a mother to
care for them, and brothers and sisters to love, but they do not seem
to appreciate their blessings, for they are continually quarreling with
one another, and no longer ago than this morning one of those boys flew
into a terrible rage because his mother asked him to chop some wood
to cook breakfast with. If he could be alone in the world for a few
days, as I have been almost ever since I can remember, he would know
how to value that mother when he got back to her. If the Indians attack
us to-night some of the emigrants will certainly be killed, and the
friends they have left behind them in the States will mourn over their
fate; but if I fall, there will be no one to drop a tear for me or say
he is sorry I am gone. There is nothing on earth that cares whether I
live or die, unless it is my horse. If the Indians kill me perhaps he
will miss me.”
Julian’s soliloquy was suddenly interrupted by a light footstep behind
the wagon in which he was sitting. He turned quickly and discovered a
man stealing along the barricade and examining it closely, as if he
were looking for a place to get through it. Julian’s first thought
was to accost him, but there was something so stealthy in the man’s
actions that his curiosity was aroused, and checking the words that
arose on his lips he remained quiet in his concealment, and waited to
see what was going to happen. He had often seen the man during the
journey across the plains, and knew that he was one of the emigrants,
but why he should seek to leave the camp at that time and in so unusual
a manner, was something the boy could not understand.
The man walked the whole length of the barricade, turning to look
at the emigrants now and then to make sure that none of them were
observing his movements, and finally disappeared under one of the
wagons. Julian heard him working his way through the obstructions that
had been placed between the wheels, and presently saw him appear again
on the outside of the barricade.
Almost at the same instant the boy discovered another figure moving
rapidly but noiselessly down the road toward the camp. At first he
thought it was the guide, but when the man came within the circle of
light thrown out by the camp-fires he saw that he was a stranger.
He was evidently a mountain man, for he was dressed in buckskin and
carried a long rifle in the hollow of his arm, and the never-failing
knife and tomahawk in his belt; but he was the worst specimen of this
class of men that Julian had ever seen. His clothing was soiled and
ragged, his hair, which had evidently never been acquainted with a
comb, fell down upon his shoulders, and his face looked as though it
had received the very roughest usage, for it was terribly battered and
scarred. One glance at him was enough to frighten Julian, who, knowing
instinctively that the man was there for no good purpose, drew further
back into the shadow of the wagon-cover.
The emigrant who had left the camp in so suspicious a manner,
discovered the stranger the moment he reached the outside of the
barricade, but he did not appear to be surprised to see him. On the
contrary, he acted as if he had been expecting him, for he placed one
foot on the nearest wagon-tongue, rested his elbow on his knee, and
when the trapper had approached within speaking distance, said in a
suppressed whisper:
“How are you, Sanders?”
The latter paid no more attention to the greeting than if he had not
been addressed at all. He advanced close to the wagon in which Julian
was concealed—so close that his brawny shoulders were almost within
reach of the boy’s hand—and peered through the barricade, taking in
at one swift glance all that was going on inside the camp. He next
looked up and down the road, fixing his eyes suspiciously on every tree
and rock near him that was large enough to conceal a foe, and having
satisfied himself that there was no one near him, he dropped the butt
of his rifle to the ground, and growled out:
“Wal!”
“Well,” replied the emigrant, “I have been to Missouri, and I have
returned, as you see.”
“I reckon you’re satisfied now, hain’t you?” he asked.
“I am. I am satisfied of four things: That the boy is alive and hearty;
that he remembers more of his early history than we thought he would;
that he has come out here to make trouble for us; and that he is at
this very moment with this wagon train.”
As the emigrant said this he folded his arms and looked at his
companion to observe the effect these words would have upon him. He, no
doubt, expected that the trapper would be surprised, and the latter’s
actions indicated that he certainly was. He stepped back as suddenly
as if a blow had been aimed at him, and after regarding the emigrant
sharply for a moment, struck the butt of his rifle with his clenched
hand, and ejaculated:
“Sho!”
“It’s a fact,” replied his companion.
“Wal, now, I wouldn’t be afeared to bet my ears agin a chaw of tobacker
that you’re fooled the worst kind,” said the trapper, who was very
much excited over what he had heard, and seemed quite unable to bring
himself to believe it. “The boy was young when he was tuk away from
here—not more’n eight years old—an’ do you ’spose he could remember
anything that happened or find his way across these yere prairies to
his hum agin? Don’t look reason’ble.”
“It’s the truth, whether it looks reasonable or not. I have seen Julian
Mortimer, and talked with him, and consequently may be supposed to know
more about him and his plans than you who have not seen him for years.
What was that?”
Julian, astonished to hear his own name pronounced by one whom he
believed to be a stranger to him, uttered an ejaculation under his
breath, and forgetting in his excitement how close the men were to him,
bent forward and began to listen more intently.
The very slight rustling he occasioned among the folds of the canvas
cover of the wagon was sufficient to attract the attention of the
emigrant and his companion, who brought their conversation to a sudden
close, and looking about them suspiciously, waited for a repetition of
the sound.
But Julian, frightened at what he had done, and trembling in every limb
when he saw the trapper turn his head and gaze earnestly toward the
wagon in which he was concealed, remained perfectly motionless and held
his breath in suspense.
The men listened a moment, but hearing nothing to alarm them, Sanders
folded his arms over the muzzle of his rifle, intimating by a gesture
that he was ready to hear what else the emigrant had to say, and the
latter once more placed his foot on the wagon-tongue, and continued:
“It is time we had an understanding on one point, Sanders. Are you
working for my cousin, Reginald, or for me?”
“I’m workin’ fur you, in course,” replied the trapper. “I’ve done my
level best fur you. I had my way with one of the brats, an’ put him
whar he’ll never trouble nobody.”
“Has he never troubled any one since that night? Has he never troubled
_you_?” asked the emigrant, in a significant tone. “Could you be hired
to spend an hour in Reginald’s rancho after dark?”
“No, I couldn’t,” replied the trapper, in a subdued voice, glancing
nervously around, and drawing a little closer to his companion. “But
that thar boy is at the bottom of the lake, an’ I’d swar to it,
’cause I put him thar myself. What it is that walks about that rancho
every night, an’ makes such noises, an’ cuts up so, I don’t know.
You had oughter let me done as I pleased with the other; but you got
chicken-hearted all of a sudden, an’ didn’t want him rubbed out, an’
so I stole him away from his hum for you, an’ you toted him off to the
States. If he comes back here an’ makes outlaws of you an’ your cousin,
it’s no business of mine. But I am on your side, an’ you know it.”
“I don’t know anything of the kind. It is true that you did all this
for me, and that I paid you well for it; but I know that you have since
promised Reginald that you would find the boy and bring him back here.
Will you attack this train to-night?”
“Sartin. That’s what we’ve been a follerin’ it fur. If you want to save
your bacon, you’d best be gettin’ out.”
“I intend to do so; but I don’t want the boy to get out; do you
understand? You know where to find me in the morning, and if you will
bring me his jacket and leggins to prove that he is out of the way,
I will give you a thousand dollars. There are a good many boys with
the train, but you will have no trouble in picking out Julian, if
you remember how he looked eight years ago. You will know him by his
handsome face and straight, slender figure.”
“I’ll find him,” said the trapper; “it’s a bargain, an’ thar’s my hand
onto it. Now I’ll jest walk around an’ take a squint at things, an’ you
had best pack up what plunder you want to save an’ cl’ar out; ’cause in
less’n an hour me an’ the Injuns will be down on this yere wagon train
like a turkey on a tater-bug.”
The emigrant evidently thought it best to act on this suggestion,
for without wasting any time or words in leave-taking he made his way
carefully through the barricade into the camp.
The trapper watched him until he disappeared from view, and then said,
as if talking to himself, but in a tone of voice loud enough for Julian
to hear:
“A thousand dollars fur doin’ a job that you are afeared to do
yourself! I don’t mind shootin’ the boy, but I’d be the biggest kind of
a dunce to do it fur that money when another man offers me $5,000 for
him alive an’ well. If that youngster, Julian, is in this camp, I’ll
win that five thousand to-night, or my name ain’t Ned Sanders.”
The trapper shouldered his rifle, and with a step that would not have
awakened a cricket, stole along the barricade, carefully examining
it at every point, and mentally calculating the chances for making
a successful attack upon it. When he had passed out of sight in the
darkness, Julian drew a long breath, and settled back in his place of
concealment to think over what he had heard.