The men followed as before. We needed no trackers to point out the way;
the path was plain as a drover's road--a thousand hoofs had made their
mark upon the ground.
We rode at a regular pace, not rapidly. I was in no hurry to come up
with the savages; I desired to get sight of them just after nightfall,
not before, lest they might also get sight of us.
The plan I proposed to myself for the rescue of my betrothed, could not
be accomplished in the daytime; darkness alone could avail me in
carrying it out, and for nightfall must I wait.
We could easily have overtaken the Indians before night. They were but
two short hours in the advance of us, and would be certain--as is their
custom on the war-trail--to make a noon-halt of several hours' duration.
Even Indian horses require to be rested.
We calculated the rate at which they were travelling--how many miles to
the hour. The prairie-men could tell to a furlong, both the gait and
the distance.
The tracks of the poor captives were still seen along the trail. This
showed that the party could not have been going faster than a walk.
The prairie-men alleged there were many horses without riders--led or
driven; many mules, too--the product of the foray. Why were the poor
captives not permitted to ride them?
Was it sheer cruelty, or brutal indifference on the part of their
captors? Did the inhuman monsters gloat over the sufferings of these
unfortunates, and deny them even the alleviation of physical pain? The
affirmative answer to all these questions was probably the true one,
since hardly better--no better, indeed--is the behaviour of these
savages towards the women of their own blood and kind--their own squaws.
Talk not to me of the noble savage--of the simplicity and gentleness of
that condition falsely termed a "state of nature." It is not nature.
God meant not man to be a wild Ishmaelite on the face of the earth. Man
was made for civilisation--for society; and only under its influence
does he assume the form and grace of true nobility. Leave him to
himself--to the play of his instincts--to the indulgence of his evil
impulses--and man becomes a brute, a beast of prey. Even worse--for
wolf and tiger gently consort with their kind, and still more gently
with their family: they feel the tenderness of the family tie. Where is
the savage upon all the earth who does not usurp dominion, and practise
the meanest tyranny, over his weaker mate? Where can you find him? Not
on the blood-stained karoos of Africa, not upon the forest-plains of the
Amazon, not by the icy shores of the Arctic Sea, certainly not upon the
prairies of North America.
No man can be noble who would in wrath lay his finger upon weaker woman;
talk not, then, of the noble savage!--fancy of poets, myth of romancers!
The tracks of riderless horses, the footsteps of walking women--tender
girls and children--upon that long tiresome trail, had for me a cruel
significance--those slender tiny tracks of pretty feet--_pobres ninas_!
There was one that fixed my attention more than the rest: every now and
then my eyes were upon it; I fancied I could identify it. It was
exactly the size, I thought. The perfect symmetry and configuration,
the oval curve of the heel, the high instep, the row of small graduated
globes made by the impression of the toes, the smooth surface left by
the imprint of the delicate epidermis--all these points seemed to
characterise the footprint of a lady.
Surely it could not be hers? Oh, surely she would not be toiling along
that weary track? Cruel as were the hearts of her captors, brutal as
were their natures, surely they would not inflict this unnecessary pain?
Beauty like hers should command kinder treatment, should inspire
compassion even in the breast of a savage! Alas! I deemed it doubtful.
We rode slowly on, as already said, not desirous of yet overtaking the
foe: we were allowing them time to depart from their noon halting-place.
We might have stopped there a while longer, but I could not submit to
the repose of a halt. Motion, however slow, appeared progress, and in
some measure hindered me from dwelling upon thoughts that only produced
unnecessary pain.
Notwithstanding the incumbrance of their spoils, the Indians must have
been travelling faster than we. They had no fear of foes to retard
them; nought to require either spies or caution. They were now in their
own country--in the very heart of the Comanche range--and in dread of no
enemy. They were moving freely and without fear. We, on the contrary,
had to keep our scouts in the advance; every bend of the road had to be
reconnoitred by them, every bush examined, every rise of the ground
approached with extreme care and watchfulness. These manoeuvres
occupied time, and we moved slowly enough.
It was after mid-day when we arrived at the noon-camp of the savages.
The smoke, as before, warned us, and approaching under cover, we
perceived that they were gone. They had kindled fires and cooked flesh.
The bones, clean picked, were easily identified, and the mid-day meal
showed that there had been no change in the diet of these hippophagists:
dinner and dejeuner had been alike--drawn from the same larder.
Again I searched the ground; but, as before, the eyes of the trapper
proved better than mine.
"Hyur's a other billy-dux, young fellur," said he, handing me the paper.
Another leaf from the missal!
I seized it eagerly--eagerly I devoured its contents! This time they
were more brief:
"_Once more I open my veins. The council meets to-night. In a few
hours it will be decided whose property I am--whose slave--whose--
Santissima Maria! I cannot write the word. I shall attempt to escape.
They leave my hands free, but my limbs are tightly bound. I have tried
to undo my fastenings, but cannot. O, if I but had a knife! I know
where one is kept; I may contrive to seize it, but it must be in the
last moment--it will not do to fail. Henri, I am firm and resolute; I
do not yield to despair. One way or the other, I shall free myself from
the hideous embrace of--They come--the villain watches me--I must_--"
The writing ended abruptly. Her jailers had suddenly approached.
The paper had evidently been concealed from them in haste; it had been
crumpled up and flung upon the grass--for so was it when found.
We remained for a while upon the spot, to rest and refresh our horses;
the poor brutes needed both. There was water at the place; and that
might not be met with again.
The sun was far down when we resumed our march--_our last march along
the war-trail_.