A STRANGE PURSUIT.
When Larry Murphy paddled the canoe beyond reach of the missile hurled
by the enraged owner of the craft, the boys were warranted in believing
that they were done with him. He was eliminated from the problem, so to
speak.
But the singular creature was not done with them. The discharge of the
gun startled him almost into spasms, and, as we have shown, he made
haste to bound in among the shadows of the trees; but the belief that
the youths were in the act of stealing his boat filled him with
consuming rage. He threw another stone with might and main, and, though
the feat was an astonishing one, he saw that it accomplished nothing.
He watched the canoe until it vanished under the shadow of the opposite
shore. He could not know the intentions of the thieves, but it did not
take him long to decide on his own.
Emerging from among the trees, where the rocks were bare, he started on
a run toward the opposite end of the lake. He was familiar with every
foot of the way, and the bank offered no obstruction. He bounded as
lightly as the chamois across chasms, and when they were too broad to be
leaped he skirted them without hesitation or fault, never losing a rod
of distance or a minute of time. He never walked for more than ten
paces, maintaining his gait with a uniformity that no one else could
have equalled.
He had a goodly number of miles to travel, for he was obliged to round
almost the entire circumference of the lake. He might have cut off a
large part of the distance by swimming across the water, and undoubtedly
he would have done so had not an important errand drawn him to the
extreme end.
The lake was fed by a narrow, deep stream, across which he sprang with
the ease of Wharton Edwards when leaping the gorge. A brief way farther
and he paused in front of a small structure among the rocks. It was
composed of limbs, bowlders, sticks, and the skins of animals, barely
large enough to give him room to lie down and move around.
This was the home of the strange creature, and was never entered by any
other person. Stooping down, he passed within. No light burned, nor did
he need any. A few minutes later he emerged, carrying a long bow in his
hand and a quiver of arrows behind one shoulder suspended by a thong
which passed under one armpit. These implements constituted his only
weapons, besides the knife and tomahawk, he never making use of any
firearms.
In the moonlight and shadows it was impossible for him to follow the
trail of the youths, which would have been almost invisible under the
glare of the sun; but the Indian seemed to be guided by intuition,
which, in the mentally affected, often approaches inspiration. In what
way he was able to convince himself that the young white men meant to
pass down the other side of the canyon cannot be conjectured, but that
such was his conviction was proven by his whole course of action.
The distance which the Shawanoe was obliged to journey consumed several
hours despite the speed he used, and nearly all of this time was spent
by Wharton Edwards and Larry Murphy in deep, refreshing sleep.
When the Indian approached the spot where the canoe had been abandoned
by the youths his gait became a walk, and he peered cautiously about
him. He uttered a low cry of exultation on observing the graceful
birchen structure, and began a hasty examination. The paddle lay in the
bottom of the boat, which showed no signs of injury. It might be
supposed that this gratifying discovery would have taken the edge off
the Indian's enmity, but he showed no signs of such feeling; if
possible, his anger became fiercer. He leaped away with a speed which
prevented any attempt to follow the trail, but he was proceeding on
general principles, it may be said.
It will be remembered that travelling was more difficult on the side of
the lake. Even such an expert as the Indian was forced to change his
gait from a trot to a walk. Sometimes he was in shadow and sometimes in
the moonlight. At intervals he paused, and bent over as if examining the
flinty surface for signs of footsteps of the youths. It is incredible
that he could have discovered any under the circumstances, and yet he
acted as if he did.
By and by he approached the spot where those for whom he was searching
lay asleep. He passed a short distance beyond, but something displeased
him. He stopped abruptly, looked down at the grass, and then came back
over his own trail.
While he stood peering into the surrounding gloom he saw the inanimate
forms.
In his delight the man repeated the dance he had given on the shore of
the lake. He leaped up and down, keeping time to the swaying of the
long, ashen bow grasped in his left hand, and passed back and forth over
a space of a dozen square feet.
He continually glanced at the youths, who were unconscious of their
danger, and held himself ready to open hostilities at the moment they
showed signs of awaking. Strange that neither Wharton nor Larry thought
of such a peril as that which now impended.
The grotesque dance lasted but a few minutes. That manner of expressing
his exultation was soon satisfied, and he made ready for action.
Reaching over his left shoulder with his right hand, he drew a feathered
arrow from the quiver. A careful examination by moonlight satisfied him
that it was perfect and every way fitted for his purpose. He fitted the
notch in the deer-string of the bow, and then advanced stealthily until
within a few dozen yards of the sleepers, the implement so held all the
time that he could have launched the missile at a moment's warning.
The elder of the youths lay nearest, and he aimed at him. Little fear
that he could not drive the arrow deep into the chest of the sleeper,
after which he probably intended to serve Wharton in the same manner.
But with the whimsicality of an insane man he changed his mind,
evidently concluding that the tomahawk was the most fitting weapon to
be used in dispatching them. With the same deliberation shown from the
first, he relaxed the tension of the string and replaced the arrow in
the quiver. Then he turned about and silently deposited the bow on the
ground, so that it should not handicap him.
This was all that was necessary, and he drew his tomahawk and faced
about just in time to make an unexpected and startling discovery.