THE HIDING-PLACE.
As his command rung boldly out upon the air of night, the scout leveled
his weapon and fired at the foremost savage. There was a horrible yell,
and the man threw up his arms and rolled headlong down the slope. Two
others darted out into the light and were received by the Dead Chief
and Floyd. One of them fell, shot through the shoulder, and the other
dragged himself groaning away, with a broken thigh. They quickly
reloaded their rifles and were ready for the next rush. The warm
reception the foremost had received somewhat damped the ardor of the
rest, and they remained in the edge of the timber, firing a useless
volley at the party so nicely concealed behind the old rampart.
"Kinder sets 'em back," laughed the Yankee. "They didn't s'pect us tew
turn on 'em so darned quick. Neow, don't it beat all natur' that Injins
back deown so quick? Oh, come out, Willimack, dew; I want tew see yew!
Don't hang back and be a coward. That ain't acting like a man, yew
know. Come out and _be_ a man. I would, yew know."
But, in spite of this feeling adjuration, the Wyandot persisted in
keeping out of sight. To tell the truth, he was not yet certain whether
his brain was quite clear of liquor, and was inwardly cursing Obisenay
up hill and down dale for putting temptation in his way. He had met
with a party of his own men, who were coming down the river to join the
Prophet, and had enlisted them in the service, so that at least sixty
men were ranged in the woods in front of the ancient fort. But, they
were mostly young men, and though good hunters, the majority of them
had never been engaged in a battle except with men of their own race.
The loss of one of their number and the severe wounding of two others,
had given them a wholesome awe of the deadly rifles of the hunted men.
Willimack was beside himself with rage, and moreover was in deadly fear
of the Skeleton Scout. He had not dared to tell the new-comers that
this fearful creature had assailed them, and that it was by his hand
that the unfortunate bottle-holder, Obisenay, had met his death, for
he feared they would scatter in every direction and leave him to do
the fighting alone. None of his original party remained, for they were
doubtless running yet, satisfied that the Skeleton Scout was at their
heels. Willimack knew his men, and determined to try an assault, and
passed the word to that effect.
Hardly had he done so when there came bounding over the rocks toward
the fort a score or more of painted figures, howling like demons, and
brandishing their weapons in air.
"Crouch down, Madge," cried Floyd; "you may get hurt."
"Am I better than the rest?" replied Madge. "Give me a knife. I will
not fall alive into the hands of Willimack if I can help it."
There was no time to hesitate. With a look of unutterable affection the
young man gave her a small stiletto which he carried inside his coat,
and whirling suddenly, shot a savage completely through the head who
was coming too near--"throw'd him cold," as the Yankee said. Two more
went down before the weapons of the scout and Dead Chief, and the rest
swarmed on for vengeance. Will Floyd said nothing, but, grasping his
rifle by the barrel, he poised it for defense. The Indians must advance
upon them through a narrow space where more than three could not pass
abreast, and were hemmed in by perpendicular walls of rock thirty feet
high.
"Give 'em the pistols, Will," cried the Yankee, "and then charge 'em."
Both men drew their pistols, and fired into the coming savages. The
Dead Chief had no pistol, but he stood with his lips apart as if after
a race, his body thrown into a statuesque attitude, with his left foot
advanced, and body slightly inclined toward the coming foe, ready for
a spring. They could trust him to fight bravely. The discharge of
the pistols at such close quarters into the compact body of savages,
could not fail to make bad work, and groans and cries succeeded. Then,
uttering wild yells which none but forest-men could imitate, the three
brave men leaped over the stockade and rushed at the leading savages.
"Give 'em goss!" cried the Yankee.
They stood in the narrow way, Seth and the Indian, with hatchet and
knife, and the young soldier with his clubbed rifle. The foremost
Indians, unused to such enemies, would have fallen back if possible,
but their companions in the rear pushed them forward, only to fall by
the deadly weapons of their determined foes. Willimack, who had heard
the polite request on the part of the Yankee that he would "come out
and be a man," had prudently kept in the rear, and now found that his
men were meeting a strenuous resistance, and indeed that they made
no advance, while the groans and cries from the front, the clash of
weapons, and the triumphant cries of the defenders, told that they had
the best of it. Indeed, it could hardly be otherwise, for the Indians
were so wedged into the narrow space that they could scarcely move
their hands, while the others stood where they could fight freely.
Seeing that he was gaining nothing by this mode of fighting, the
Wyandot called off his men, only to find them sadly decimated by their
encounter with the trio.
Cursing the obstinacy of the defenders as heartily as any man could do,
Willimack drew off his men after bringing away such of the dead and
wounded as the Dead Chief would consent to part with. Upon counting
the loss and gain, after the battle, Willimack found this total: four
killed outright in the charge, three desperately wounded, and left
on the ground, and as many more brought off. Over a dozen wounded in
various ways, though not so badly as to disable them, and they had no
reason to believe that their enemies had been wounded in the least.
They had already fallen back to the fort, and were taking breath after
the struggle. The Dead Chief was coolly arranging the hideous trophies
he had taken time to strip from the heads of his enemies, paying no
attention to the look of horror upon the face of Madge, who wondered
that a man who had fought as gloriously as he had done in beating back
the enemy, could think of tearing and mutilating the dead. But, he
handled them as coolly as if they had been pieces of paper, shook the
blood from them, and thrust them into his belt with a gratified air.
"Wah!" he said. "Why do we wait? Let us charge the enemy and take their
scalps."
"Easy, chief, easy," said the Yankee. "Don't rile up so darned quick.
I reckin we are safer here than we would be eout thar in the woods.
Etarnal Jehosaphat, but didn't we let intew 'em? The critter don't like
us a bit, I judge."
"We are able to keep this pass against them," said Will.
"Throw a couple of sticks on that fire," replied Seth. "I reckon yure
right, but it looks tew me as ef this pass was going tew keep us. We
ain't got pervisions enough tew last half a day."
"I never thought of that. Indeed, we could not stand a siege," replied
Will.
"No, cuss the luck. Give me enuff grub, and I'll hold this place alone
ag'in' the hull Wyandot nation. But, Lord, I'd give my old moccasins
fer a drink of water now."
"Here is my flask. There is about pint of brandy in it."
"Good," said Seth eagerly. "Take jest one swallow, and be sure yew
don't make it a long one, 'cause we want it tew last."
Will did as the Yankee told him, and passed the flask along.
"I've got a big mouth," said Seth. "I could take the hull at one
swaller, but that wouldn't be fair. Here, chief; take hold."
The chief shook his head.
"Oh, I forgot. Beg pardon, chief, yew are a teetotaller. It would be
a darned sight better fer the Injins ef they all follered the same
principle, but unfortnitly they don't. Here gal, take hold."
"No," said Madge. "Indeed, I am not thirsty. Remember that I had just
been eating and drinking when you rescued me, and have not been going
through the same struggle since. I can wait until to-morrow before I
need any thing."
"Waal, lie down, little 'un, and try tew git a little sleep. I'd dew
any thing tew save yew, little gal."
"Thank you, my good Seth. I know you would."
He scraped a pile of leaves and twigs into one corner of the work, and
induced her to lie down and rest. Then he went back to the others.
"Now look here, boys," he said. "It's all right tew talk about holding
eout a week or a fortnight here on a flask of brandy and a piece of
jerked venison about big enough tew give one h'arty man a good meal,
but, it won't work. We kan't dew it, and I reckon some on us has got
tew go under. Neow look here! I kin hide that little gal so that the
devil hisself kan't find her, and I kan hide one more along with her.
But, I kan't hide three or four."
"Save her, Josh, at all hazards."
"That's what I say. I'm going tew save her, but someone hez got tew be
with her, yew know. Now then, who shill it be?"
"You, by all means," said Will.
"Not a bit of it. I'm tew long tew stick intew my hiding-place handy,
and besides, the gal mout not like it. I guess you'll hev tew be the
one."
"I will not desert you, Seth."
"Oh, git eout. Desert the devil! Once I git yew tew safe I laugh at
every Injin in the territory. Come here."
A nearly perpendicular but irregular wall of stone formed the back
part of the fort. A point jutted out considerably further than the
rest, leaving a fissure about four feet across. In this fissure a large
stone, apparently broken off from the rock above, lay loosely upon the
earth, with its side pressed against the rock. Putting his ponderous
strength to the stone, the Yankee moved it easily to one side and
disclosed an opening close to the ground, nearly three feet high. "Git
in, and see how yew like it," he said. "It's one of _my_ holes."
The young soldier crawled in, and striking a match, saw that he was in
a hole scooped out by the hand of nature in the solid wall, which was
large enough for two persons to sit in comfortably, though they could
not rise to their feet. Having satisfied himself, he crept out as he
came in. "The air seems pure," he said.
"How is it when the stone is replaced?"
"First rate. Lord love yew, I've been in that hole menny and menny a
time. Yew kan't think heow com'fable it is tew lay thar and hear the
Injins howl outside, and wonder heow the devil yew got away. It's
mighty nice. Git the gal and bring her here. Tell her tew stoop low,
'cause some of them pesky cusses may be on the watch. Pass the word for
the Dead Chief tew keep up a good look-out. Dead? He ain't dead, not
much he ain't."
Madge was resting peacefully upon her bed of leaves, but rose and
followed her lover without a word, while he explained to her the nature
of the hiding-place which Yankee Seth had showed him. Seth saw that the
young man was still very much averse to leaving him to fight himself
out of the cordon of his enemies alone, and made an angry movement.
"Neow, don't say a darned word, Will Floyd. Who but yew ought to stay
and take keer of the little gal? As fer me, I'm in the hands of the
Great Being, even the Injins adores, and ef my time hez come tew die
now, I ain't the man that will kick ag'inst it. But, my time ain't come
yit, I feel it in my bones. Go in, little gal. Take yure rifle and
am'nition, boy. Yew may need it."
"Yes," said Will, sternly. "Madge shall never go to an Indian lodge. I
promise her that, and I will keep my word."
"That's right, keep yure word tew the little gal, and when the Injin
wars are done and yew are married, I'll come tew see yew in yure house
on the Wabash. _Yew_ bet! See this peep-hole here, cap. Yew kan lie
flat in thar and see all the fun, and I'm going tew give yew some."
"Do not be rash, Seth. Escape if you can."
"A rash man is never a good scout," was the quiet reply. "Go in!"
Will followed Madge into the hole in the rock and lay upon his face
after the stone had been replaced, peeping out into the fort. The
Yankee was standing just in front of him, with his hand upon the
shoulder of the Indian, and Will thought he had never seen two nobler
specimens of manly beauty in his life.
The firelight shone upon the noble figures of the two men, and the
Yankee was whispering in the ear of the savage. A bright smile crossed
the face of the Indian and he looked at him in a puzzled way, and then
shook his hand heartily.
"I wonder what they are up to now?" muttered Will. "That Yankee is
equal to any deviltry, and now that he has me off his hands he don't
seem to fear the Indians in the least."
"What is he doing?" said Madge, who felt a strange security in the odd
hiding-place.
"They are both laughing," replied Will. "There, they are trampling out
the fire. I can see no more. Ha! the Indians are on the move; I can
hear their hurrying feet. Do you fear, Madge?"
"No. Am I not with you, dear Will."
"Yes, darling, yes. And if they find us out--"
"You have two pistols. One for me, one for yourself. If you escape
alive and I fall into the hands of Willimack, never look your friends
in the face, for you will be a coward."
"Hush," he said, in a hoarse voice. "You have my promise already. Come
close to me and keep quiet. When the time comes, give me the word, and
then--oh God, it will drive me mad to do it."
"When the time comes I shall die as bravely as another," replied Madge.
"Kiss me once upon the lips, and we will die together, my hero, my own!"
He kissed her frantically, and she returned the caress. At another
time, it might have caused a blush to this innocent girl; but, in the
presence of this great danger, she forgot all this, and with her hand
clasped in his, waited for the blow which was sure to fall if their
hiding-place was found.
A wild yell of mingled rage and hatred burst from the woods around,
and the savage foe came pouring over the rampart of the old fort,
some carrying torches, some holding their weapons ready for a blow.
But, they found no enemy, and the frantic cries told that they were
disappointed of their prey. Will pressed the hand of the brave girl,
which did not tremble in his grasp, and kept his eyes fixed upon the
movements of the enemy. They were rushing madly about the inclosure,
looking in every place where a man could by any chance be concealed,
without effect. Willimack was at their head, painted to the waist,
holding in one hand a blazing torch and in the other a heavy hatchet.
As the young man saw the scoundrel, he raised his pistol, and it
was only by the thought that _her_ life would be sacrificed that he
refrained from shooting the wretch through the heart.
The Indians came into the crevice in which they were hidden, and one of
them actually leaned upon the rock which shielded them! The grasp of
the soldier tightened upon the wrist of Madge, and she met his pressure
by raising herself a little and putting one rounded arm about his neck.
But, the danger passed, for the moment. The Indian went away and they
breathed more freely, when a commanding voice, which seemed to come
from the sky, shouted:
"_Willimack!_"
The chief looked up, and there, upon the rocks thirty feet above his
head stood the Skeleton Scout, pointing his unshaking finger at the
Wyandot.