CONCLUSION.
Jack Carleton was in the middle of a pleasant dream of home and friends,
when a light touch on his shoulder caused him to open his eyes and look
up with a quick, inquiring glance.
"Helloa! Deerfoot, is that you?" he exclaimed, springing to his feet and
grasping the hand of his old friend, on whose handsome features lingered
the shadowy smile which told of the pleasure he felt in finding his
beloved friend after such a long search.
"Deerfoot is glad to take the hand of his brother and press it; he has
hunted a good while for him and his heart was sad that he did not find
him."
"How, in the name of conscience, did you ever find me at all?" demanded
Jack, who slapped him on his back, pinched his arm, and treated him
with a familiarity which few dared show toward him.
"I've had a very curious time, I can tell you, old fellow--helloa! where
did that gun come from, and that tomahawk?" exclaimed the wondering
youth, catching sight of the weapons.
"'Twill be well if my brother does not stay here," replied the young
Shawanoe, who, while he felt no particular fear of the Sauk whom he had
flung into the ravine, saw the possibility of his procuring friends and
coming back to revenge himself. Prudence suggested that the two should
secure themselves against such peril. Deerfoot, therefore, picked up the
tomahawk, shoved it into the girdle around his waist, grasped the rifle
in his right hand, and strode forward with his free, easy, swinging
gait. As there was no call for special caution, he told the story of his
encounter with the young Sauk who had raised his tomahawk to brain his
sleeping friend. Deerfoot's first intention was to drive an arrow
through his body, but he chose the method already described of
frustrating his purpose.
To make his story complete, it was necessary for the young Shawanoe to
begin with his visit to Jack's mother, and to describe the mental agony
of the good parent over the unaccountable absence of her boy. Then he
told of his meeting with the Sauk warrior, Hay-uta, who made such a
determined effort to take his life. From him he learned that a white
youth was a captive in the village, and he concluded, as a matter of
course, that there were to be found both Jack and Otto, though no
reference was made to the latter. The sagacious Shawanoe, however,
discovered an important fact or two which I did not refer to in telling
the incident. The first was that Hay-uta was one of the five Sauks who
separated from the other five directly after the capture of the boys.
With his company was Otto Relstaub, the Dutch youth, while Jack Carleton
was with the other. Hay-uta and his friends were on their way to the
village, and were almost within sight of it, when Hay-uta felt such
dissatisfaction over their failure to bring back any scalps or plunder,
that he drew off and declared he would not go home until he secured some
prize of that nature. His encounter with Deerfoot followed. When he left
the latter he went straight to his village. Deerfoot could have trailed
him without trouble, but, inasmuch as the Sauk had departed in that
manner, and the Shawanoe knew where his village lay, he purposely
avoided his trail, and followed a course that diverged so far to the
right that he first reached the village passed by Jack in his canoe. His
arrival, as sometimes happens in this life, was in the very nick of
time. From the red men, who showed a friendly disposition toward him, he
learned that not only had a pale face youth passed down the stream in a
canoe, but a young warrior aflame with passion was close behind him.
The wise Deerfoot was quick to grasp the situation, and he set out
hot-footed after the aforesaid flaming young warrior, and followed him
with such celerity that he came in sight of him long before the Sauk
arrived at the camp-fire. Little did the furious young Sauk dream, while
panting with anticipated revenge, and aglow with exultation, that one of
his own race was close upon his heels, ready to launch his deadly arrow
at any moment, and only waiting to decide in what manner the Sauk should
be "eliminated" from the whole business.
Seated around the camp fire late that night, the two friends talked over
the past. Jack gave full particulars of what befell him since his
capture by the Indians, up to the hour when Deerfoot joined him. The
young Shawanoe listened with great interest to the story, for it will be
admitted that in many respects it was an extraordinary narrative. He
told Jack that the people with whom he had passed more than a week were
Sauks, under the leadership of the chieftain whose lodge had sheltered
the prisoner during his captivity. The Sauks were a brave, warlike
people, and this offshoot, which had located in that portion of Upper
Louisiana, was among the most daring and vindictive of the tribe. Their
leniency toward Jack was remarkable, and could only be accounted for on
the supposition that Ogallah took a fancy to the youth and meant to
adopt him into his family. It was not at all unlikely that Jack's
suspicion that they were "training" him to figure in a scene of torture
was correct. His escape, therefore, could not have been more opportune.
Let not the reader accuse the two of indifference, because so little has
been recorded in their conversation, concerning Otto Relstaub, the
companion of both in more than one scene of peril, and held by them in
strongest friendship. They had talked more of him than of any one else,
though Jack's heart was oppressed by a great sorrow when he thought of
his mother and her grief over his continued absence. Jack had asked
Deerfoot over and over again as to his belief concerning their absent
friend, but the Shawanoe, for a long time, evaded a direct answer.
"I can tell you what _I_ think," said Jack with a compression of his
lips and a shake of his head: "Otto is dead."
"How did my brother meet his death?" calmly asked Deerfoot.
"Those five warriors started by another route to the village and they
meant to take him there as they took me. After Hay-uta, as I believe you
call your friend, left, they made up their minds that it wasn't of any
use to bother with poor Otto, and so they tomahawked or shot him."
Having given his theory, Jack Carleton turned toward the young Shawanoe
for his comment, but he sat looking intently in the fire and remained
silent. Resolved that he should say something on the painful subject,
Jack touched his arm.
"Deerfoot, do you think I am right?"
The Indian looked in his face and still mute, nodded his head to signify
he agreed with him.
"Poor Otto," added Jack with a sigh, "I wonder how his father and mother
will feel when they learn that their boy will never come back."
"They will mourn because the horse was not found," was the
characteristic remark of Deerfoot.
"You are right," exclaimed Jack, with a flash of the eye; "if old Jacob
Relstaub could get his horse, I believe he and his wife would go on and
smoke their pipes with as much piggish enjoyment as before, caring
nothing for their only child. How different my mother!" he added in a
softer voice: "she would give her life to save mine, as I would give
mine to keep trouble from her. I say, Deerfoot, Otto and I were a couple
of fools to start out to hunt a horse that had been lost so many days
before and of which we hadn't the slightest trace--don't you think so?"
The young Shawanoe once more turned and looked in his face with a
mournful expression, and nodded his head with more emphasis than before.
"I knew you would agree with me," assented Jack, "though, to tell the
truth, I had very little hope myself that we would ever get sight of
the animal, but old Jacob Relstaub really drove Otto out of his house
and compelled him to go off on the wild goose hunt. I couldn't let him
go alone and, with mother's consent, I kept him company."
"My brother pleased the Great Spirit, and Deerfoot will pray that he
shall ever act so that the Great Spirit will smile on him."
"I shall most certainly try to do so," said Jack with a resolute shake
of his head: "He has shown me a hundred-fold more mercies than I deserve
and I mean to prove that I have some gratitude in me."
The conversation went on in this fashion until the evening was far
along, when Jack lay down near the fire, intending to sleep for the rest
of the night. Deerfoot assured him there was no danger and as was his
custom, the young Shawanoe brought forth his Bible to spend an hour or
so in studying its pages. Before he had fixed upon the portion, Jack
Carleton came to the sitting position and, with some excitement in his
manner, said:
"Deerfoot, I forgot to tell you something: I don't know how it came to
slip my mind."
The Indian looked in his face and quietly awaited his explanation.
"One of those Sauks that belonged to Otto's party came into the lodge of
Ogallah when I was there, and I think he tried to tell me something
about Otto, but I couldn't understand his words or gestures."
"Let my brother show Deerfoot what the movements were," said the other,
manifesting much interest.
They were so impressed on Jack Carleton that, springing to his feet, he
placed himself in front of Deerfoot and reproduced most of the gestures,
the words, of course, being gone. The Shawanoe fixed his eyes on his
friend, and scrutinized every motion with eager eyes. Suddenly he sprang
up with more feeling than he had shown in a long time. And well might he
do so, for he had translated the sign language, as given to him by Jack
Carleton, and it told a far different story than the one which both had
adopted some time before.
"Otto is alive," was the startling declaration of Deerfoot.
"He is!" exclaimed the amazed Jack, "I should like to know who told you
that."
"That was what the Sauk warrior said to my brother; that was what he
tried to tell him, but my brother did not understand his words."
"Are you really sure Otto is alive?"
"Deerfoot cannot be sure of that which his eyes do not behold; but such
were the words of Hay-uta the Sauk; they did not kill Otto."
"Then where _is_ he?"
"He is a long ways off; we will hasten to the settlement that the heart
of the mother of my brother shall be lightened. Then Deerfoot will lead
his brother on the hunt for him who is so many miles away toward the
setting sun."
Within the following three days, Jack Carleton arrived home and was
clasped in the arms of his mother, who rejoiced over his return as
though it had been a very rising from the dead. Deerfoot had conducted
him swiftly through the forest and not a hair of the head of either was
harmed.
* * * * *
The limits of this work having been reached, it will be impossible in
these pages to give an account of what befell Otto Relstaub, after his
capture by the little band of Sauk Indians; but all that, as well as
the eventful hunt for him by Deerfoot the Shawanoe and young Jack
Carleton, shall be fully told in "Footprints in the Forest," which will
form _Number Three of the Log Cabin Series_.
THE END.
Famous Castlemon Books.
No author of the present day has become a greater favorite with boys
than "Harry Castlemon," every book by him is sure to meet with hearty
reception by young readers generally. His naturalness and vivacity leads
his readers from page to page with breathless interest, and when one
volume is finished the fascinated reader, like Oliver Twist, asks "for
more."
By Harry Castlemon.
GUNBOAT SERIES.
Frank the Young Naturalist.
Frank in the Woods.
Frank on the Prairie.
Frank on a Gunboat.
Frank before Vicksburg.
Frank on the Lower Mississippi.
GO AHEAD SERIES.
Go Ahead; or, The Fisher Boy's Motto.
No Moss; or, The Career of a Rolling Stone.
Tom Newcombe; or, The Boy of Bad Habits.
ROCKY MOUNTAIN SERIES.
Frank at Don Carlos' Rancho.
Frank among the Rancheros.
Frank in the Mountains.
SPORTSMAN'S CLUB SERIES.
The Sportsman's Club in the Saddle.
The Sportsman's Club Afloat.
The Sportsman's Club among the Trappers.
FRANK NELSON SERIES.
Snowed up; or, The Sportsman's Club in the Mountains.
Frank Nelson in the Forecastle; or, the Sportsman's Club among the
Whalers.
The Boy Traders; or, The Sportsman's Club among the Boers.
BOY TRAPPER SERIES.
The Buried Treasure; or, Old Jordan's "Haunt"
The Boy Trapper; or, How Dave filled the Order.
The Mail Carrier.
ROUGHING IT SERIES.
George in Camp; or, Life on the Plains.
George at the Wheel; or, Life in a Pilot House.
George at the Fort; or, Life Among the Soldiers.
ROD AND GUN SERIES.
Don Gordon's Shooting Box.
Rod and Gun.
The Young Wild Fowlers.
Alger's Renowned Books.
Horatio Alger, Jr., has attained distinction as one of the most popular
writers of books for boys, and the following list comprises all of his
best books.
By Horatio Alger, Jr.
RAGGED DICK SERIES.
Ragged Dick; or, Street Life in New York.
Fame and Fortune; or, The Progress of Richard Hunter.
Mark the Match Boy; or, Richard Hunter's Ward.
Rough and Ready; or, Life among the New York Newsboys.
Ben the Luggage Boy; or, Among the Wharves.
Rufus and Rose; or, The Fortunes of Rough and Ready.
TATTERED TOM SERIES. (First Series.)
Tattered Tom; or, The Story of a Street Arab.
Paul the Peddler; or, The Adventures of a Young Street Merchant.
Phil the Fiddler; or, The Young Street Musician.
Slow and Sure; or, From the Sidewalk to the Shop.
TATTERED TOM SERIES. (Second Series.)
Julius; or, The Street Boy Out West.
The Young Outlaw; or, Adrift in the World.
Sam's Chance and How He Improved it.
The Telegraph Boy.
LUCK AND PLUCK SERIES. (First Series.)
Luck and Pluck; or, John Oakley's Inheritance.
Sink or Swim; or, Harry Raymond's Resolve.
Strong and Steady; or, Paddle Your Own Canoe.
Strive and Succeed; or, The Progress of Walter Conrad.
LUCK AND PLUCK SERIES. (Second Series.)
Try and Trust; or, The Story of a Bound Boy.
Bound to Rise; or, How Harry Walton Rose in the World.
Risen from the Ranks; or, Harry Walton's Success.
Herbert Carter's Legacy; or, The Inventor's Son.
BRAVE AND BOLD SERIES.
Brave and Bold; or, The Story of a Factory Boy.
Jack's Ward; or, The Boy Guardian.
Shifting for Himself; or, Gilbert Greyson's Fortunes.
Wait and Hope; or, Ben Bradford's Motto.
CAMPAIGN SERIES.
Frank's Campaign; or, the Farm and the Camp.
Paul Prescott's Charge.
Charlie Codman's Cruise.
PACIFIC SERIES.
The Young Adventurer; or, Tom's Trip Across the Plains.
The Young Miner; or, Tom Nelson in California.
The Young Explorer; or, Among the Sierras.
Ben's Nugget; or, A Boy's Search for Fortune. A Story of the Pacific
Coast.
ATLANTIC SERIES
The Young Circus Rider; or, The Mystery of Robert Rudd.
Do and Dare; or, A Brave Boy's Fight for Fortune.
Hector's Inheritance; or, Boys of Smith Institute.
By C. A. Stephens.
Rare books for boys--bright, breezy, wholesome and instructive--full of
adventure and incident, and information upon natural history--they blend
instruction with amusement--contain much useful and valuable information
upon the habits of animals, and plenty of adventure, fun and jollity.
CAMPING OUT SERIES.
Camping Out. As recorded by "Kit."
Left on Labrador; or, The Cruise of the Schooner Yacht "Curlew."
As recorded by "Wash."
Off to the Geysers; or, The Young Yachters in Iceland. As recorded
by "Wade."
Lynx Hunting. From Notes by the Author of "Camping Out."
Fox Hunting. As recorded by "Raed."
On the Amazon; or, the Cruise of the "Rambler." As recorded by "Wash."
By J. T. Trowbridge.
These stories will rank among the best of Mr. Trowbridge's books for the
young, and he has written some of the best of our juvenile literature.
JACK HAZARD SERIES.
Jack Hazard and his Fortunes.
A Chance for Himself; or, Jack Hazard and his Treasure.
Doing his Best.
Fast Friends.
The Young Surveyor; or, Jack on the Prairies.
Lawrence's Adventures Among the Ice Cutters, Glass Makers, Coal
Miners, Iron Men and Ship Builders.
By Edward S. Ellis.
A New Series of Books for Boys, equal in interest to the "Castlemon" and
"Alger" books. His power of description of Indian life and character is
equal to the best of Cooper.
BOY PIONEER SERIES.
Ned in the Block House; or, Life on the Frontier.
Ned in the Woods.
Ned on the River.
End of Project Gutenberg's Camp-fire and Wigwam, by Edward Sylvester Ellis