WAR CHIEF SERIES, NO. 2.
BLAZING ARROW,
A TALE OF THE FRONTIER
BY EDWARD S. ELLIS
AUTHOR OF "BOY PIONEER SERIES," "DEERFOOT SERIES,"
"LOG CABIN SERIES," ETC., ETC.
PHILADELPHIA
HENRY T. COATES & CO.
1900
COPYRIGHT, 1899, BY
HENRY T. COATES & CO.
[Illustration: OVER THE FALLS.]
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER PAGE
I. LARRY AND WHARTON 1
II. ON THE BRINK 8
III. OVER THE FALLS 18
IV. BLAZING ARROW 32
V. THROUGH THE WOODS 42
VI. A MISCALCULATION 52
VII. A CHECK 62
VIII. A CHAT 69
IX. TURNING BACK 76
X. GROPING IN THE DARK 83
XI. IN A CORNER 96
XII. REVERSING POSITIONS 109
XIII. A BLUNDER 116
XIV. LOOKING ON 123
XV. A HAIL AND AN ANSWER 132
XVI. THE DETOUR 143
XVII. BY THE LAKE 153
XVIII. THE STRANGE SIGHT 160
XIX. ZANY OR LUNATIC 167
XX. ACROSS THE GORGE 176
XXI. A STRANGE PURSUIT 183
XXII. ARQU-WAO 190
XXIII. A SERIOUS QUESTION 199
XXIV. THE TRACKS OF HORSES 206
XXV. A SINGULAR MEETING 213
XXVI. FOOTPRINTS 223
XXVII. RED CROW 230
XXVIII. GOOD NEWS 240
XXIX. RED CROW'S ERRAND 247
XXX. ALL TOGETHER 254
XXXI. THE NEW ROUTE 261
XXXII. THE LAST HALT 271
XXXIII. CONCLUSION 278
BLAZING ARROW
A TALE OF THE FRONTIER.
CHAPTER I.
LARRY AND WHARTON.
"I'll follow him to the right, and you, Larry, go to the left; we'll
have him then, sure."
"All right; it's mesilf that will bate ye, fur all ye're the swiftest
runner in Kintucky."
"There isn't a minute to lose; move faster, Larry!"
"Do you attind to your own business, and lave Larry Murphy to himsilf."
The words were uttered quickly, for the two youths were eager and
excited. They had caught sight of an enormous bear a few minutes before,
as he lumbered into the canebrake in the direction of the torrent which
swept furiously toward the Ohio. The young Irishman happened to be a
few paces in advance of his companion, Wharton Edwards, and took a
flying shot at the brute. Whether he struck him or not was uncertain.
The probabilities were that, despite his skill with the rifle, he only
scratched his bulky body, or missed him altogether. Before Wharton could
bring his weapon to bear, bruin was beyond reach for the time.
It was at this juncture that the fleet-footed youth bounded to the side
of his Irish friend and urged him to hurry to the left, while he circled
in the other direction. One of them must head off the game, and it
mattered little which did it provided it was done.
Larry Murphy was as ardent in his pursuit as his comrade, and was
hopeful of getting the prize away from him. Pausing, therefore, only
long enough to exchange the words quoted, he was off like a deer.
"That young man houlds a high opinion of himsilf," he muttered, as he
crashed forward, "and I've saan worse fellys than Whart Edwards. He can
bate all creation running, but I'm hoping that he may thrip his feet so
as to give mesilf a show----"
It was poetical justice, perhaps, that the fate which the young Irishman
wished might overtake his friend claimed him for his own, for, while the
words were in his mouth, a wire-like vine on the ground did the
mischief. It wound round his ankle like an angry black snake, and he
sprawled forward on his hands and knees, his gun flying several feet
from his hands.
"Bad luck to it!" he growled, climbing to his feet; "that's just the
sthyle I used to thrip up the spalpeens. I'm onsartin whether me neck is
broke off or not, but I'll have to lave it to find out till this little
job is over."
The fall was so violent that he limped for a few paces, and his speed
was lessened; but the stream was not far off, and the rugged lad was
quick to rally from his discomfiture.
"Begorrah, but I've got the laugh on Whart," he exclaimed, a minute
later, as he caught sight of a dark object among the trees; "that shot
of mine landed the beast, and knowing that it's mesilf that's entitled
to him, he has left Wharton and turned off there to wait for me to
finish him."
If this quaint faith were genuine, Larry did not trust it farther than
he was compelled to. Instead of waiting till he could draw nearer and
secure a truer shot, he stopped abruptly, brought his heavy rifle to a
level, sighted quickly but carefully, and let fly.
There was no doubt about his having hit the mark this time. He was a
good shot, and the distance was too slight for him to miss. Forgetting
the law of the hunter, which requires him to reload his discharged gun
before moving from his tracks, Larry lowered his weapon, and driving his
broad honest face through the wreath of smoke before it could lift from
the muzzle of his rifle, he dashed forward toward the game to which he
was sure he had just given the finishing touch.
In his excitement, and with his partly obscured view, he did not observe
that the bear remained immovable. If he had noticed it, he would have
concluded that the beast had been mortally wounded by the first shot and
had collapsed while on the way to the stream of water.
"Now Whart will be filled wid jilousy whin he finds that the bear
surrindered to me. Had it been him that come in sight of the beast he
wouldn't have stopped, but obsarving that it was mesilf, he threw up his
hands and----"
Larry paused in dismay. Crashing through the brush, he stopped close to
his supposed prize, and found that, instead of its being the game he had
in mind, it was the lower portion of an immense tree that had probably
lain for years on the ground. It bore some resemblance to a prostrate
animal, but the youthful hunter never could have made the mistake except
for his flurried condition.
"Wurrah, wurrah, now, but that was a bad miss," he muttered, grinning at
his own blunder. "I don't see any necessity for acquainting Whart wid
all the sarcumstances, but if the stump doesn't say anything about it,
I'll hold me pace."
The slip took away from the youth about all the hope he had felt until
then of bagging the bear. He knew at the time that young Edwards gave
him the better chance, for it was just like the magnanimous fellow to
do that thing, and Larry had lost it through his own stupidity.
He listened for a few moments, uncertain which way to move or turn.
There seemed little use in trying to regain his lost opportunities, but
the doughty fellow mortally hated to give up the peculiar contest
without another effort.
He could hear the dull roar of the torrent as it poured over the falls
only a short way off, and he fancied once that he detected the rush of
some swiftly-moving body through the wood. Of this, however, he could
not be certain, because of the interfering noise of the stream.
"Whist, now, but I forgot the same!" he suddenly added, as he recalled
that it was an empty weapon which he held in his hand.
"S'pose now that that cratur should turn 'round to make my acquaintance;
I would have to ask him to have the kindness to wait awhile until I
could get the gun in shape, and he would be mane 'nough to objict."
Despite Larry's fondness for talking, either with a companion or
himself, and despite the apparent absurdity of many things he said, he
wasted no time when it was of value, and he committed few errors of
judgment.
The proper amount of powder was poured from the unstopped horn into the
palm of his hand and sent rattling down the inclined barrel of his heavy
gun. Then a bullet, clasped in a small square of oiled cloth, was rammed
tightly upon the charge; the yellow flint was drawn back and the pan
filled with the black grains; then the hammer was carefully lowered, and
the old-fashioned weapon was ready for use.
At that moment the report of a rifle broke the stillness, and the
startled Larry, glancing around, exclaimed in a guarded undertone:
"I b'leave Whart is in trouble."