I spent but little time in preparations; these had been made already.
It remained only to tighten my saddle-girths, look to the caps of my
revolvers, and place both pistols and knife in the belt behind my back--
where the weapons would be concealed by the pendent robe of
jaguar-skins. In a few minutes I was ready.
I still loitered a while, to wait for the falling of the water; not
long--my anxiety did not permit me to tarry long. The hour of the
council might be nigh--I might be too late for the crisis. Not long did
I loiter.
It was not necessary. Even by the moonlight, we could distinguish the
dark line of the bank separating the grassy turf from the surface of the
water. The rippling current was shining like silver-lace, and, by
contrast, the brown earthy strip that rose vertically above it, could be
observed more distinctly. It was sensibly broader.
I could wait no longer. I leaped into the saddle. My comrades crowded
around me to say a parting word: and with a wish or a prayer upon their
lips, one after another pressed my hand. Some doubted of their ever
seeing me again--I could tell this from the tone of their leave-taking--
others were more confident. All vowed to revenge me if I fell.
Rube and Garey went with me down the hill.
At the point where the stream impinged upon the hill? there were bushes;
these continued up the declivity, and joined the timber upon the summit.
Under their cover we descended, reaching the bank just at the salient
angle of the bend. A thin skirting of similar bushes ran around the
base of the hill, and we now perceived that by following the path on
which we had come, the ambuscade might have been brought a little nearer
to the camp. But the cover was not so good as the grove upon the
summit, and in case of a retreat, it would be necessary to gallop up the
naked face of the slope, and thus expose our numbers. It was decided,
therefore, after a short consultation, to leave the men where they were.
From the bend, where we stood, to the Indian camp? the river trended
almost in a straight line, and its long reach lay before our eyes like a
band of shining metal. Along its banks, the bush extended no farther.
A single step towards the camp would have exposed us to the view of its
occupants.
At this point, therefore, it was necessary for me to take to the water;
and dismounting, I made ready for the immersion.
The trappers had spoken their last words of instruction and counsel;
they had both grasped my hand, giving it a significant squeeze that
promised more than words; but to these, too, had they given utterance.
"Don't be afeerd, capt'n!" said the younger. "Rube and I won't be far
off. If we hear your pistols, we'll make a rush to'rst you, and meet
you half-way anyhow; and if onything should happen amiss,"--here Garey
spoke with emphasis--"you may depend on't we'll take a bloody revenge."
"Yees!" echoed Rube, "we'll do jest thet. Thur'll be many a nick in
Targuts afore next Krissmuss ef _you_ ur rubbed out, young fellur; thet
I swar to ye. But don't be skeeart! Keep yur eye sharp-skinned, an yur
claws steady, an thur's no fear but yu'll git clur. Oncest yur clur o'
the camp, 'ee may reck'n on us. Put straight for the timmer, an gallip
as ef Ole Scratch wur a-gruppin' at the tail o' yur critter."
I waited to hear no more, but leading Moro down the bank, at a place
where it sloped, I stepped gently into the current. My well-trained
steed followed without hesitation, and in another instant we were both
breast-deep in the flood.
The water was just the depth I desired. There was a half-yard of bank
that rose vertically above the surface; and this was sufficient to
shelter either my own head, as I stood erect, or the frontlet of my
horse. Should the channel continue of uniform depth as far as the camp,
the approach would be easy indeed: and, for certain hydrographic
reasons, I was under the belief it would.
The plumes of the Indian bonnet rose above the level of the meadow-turf;
and as the feathers--dyed of gay colours--would have formed a
conspicuous object, I took off the gaudy head-dress, and carried it in
my hand.
I also raised the robe of jaguar-skin over my shoulders, in order to
keep it dry; and for the same reason, temporarily carried my pistols
above the water-line.
The making of these slight alterations occupied only a minute or so;
and, as soon as they were completed, I moved forward through the water.
The very depth of the stream proved a circumstance in my favour. In
wading, both horse and man make less noise in deep than in shallow
water; and this was an important consideration. The night was still--
too still for my wishes--and the plunging sound would have been heard
afar off; but fortunately there were rapids below--just where the stream
forced its way through the spur of the hill--and the hissing sough of
these, louder in the still night, was borne upon the air to the distance
of many miles. Their noise, to my own ears, almost drowned the plashing
made by Moro and myself. I had noted this _point d'avantage_ before
embarking upon the enterprise.
At the distance of two hundred yards from the bushes, I paused to look
back. My purpose was to fix in my memory the direction of the hill, and
more especially the point where my comrades had been left in ambush: in
the event of a close pursuit, it would not do to mistake their exact
situation.
I easily made out the place, and observed that, for several reasons, a
better could not have been chosen. The trees that timbered the crest of
the hill were of a peculiar kind--none more so upon the earth. They
were a species of arborescent yucca, then unknown to botanists. Many of
them were forty feet in height; and their thick angular branches, and
terminal fascicles of rigid leaves, outlined against the sky, formed a
singular, almost an unearthly spectacle. It was unlike any other
vegetation upon earth, more resembling a grove of cast-iron than a wood
of exogenous trees.
Why I regarded the spot as favourable for an ambush, was chiefly this: a
party approaching it from the plain, and climbing the hill, might fancy
a host of enemies in their front; for the trees themselves, with their
heads of radiating blades, bore a striking resemblance to an array of
plumed gigantic warriors. Many of the yuccas were only six feet in
height, with tufted heads, and branchless trunks as gross as the body of
a man, and they might readily have been mistaken for human beings.
I perceived at a glance the advantage of the position. Should the
Indians pursue me, and I could succeed in reaching the timber before
them, a volley from my comrades would check the pursuers, however
numerous. The nine rifles would be enough, with a few shots from the
revolvers. The savages would fancy nine hundred under the mystifying
shadows of that spectral-like grove.
With confidence, strengthened by these considerations, I once more
turned my face up-stream; and breasting the current, waded on.