silence, followed by the brave Jumbo. We had gone thus above a mile,
when we heard a yell which proceeded from the direction of the place we
had quitted. My companion stopped short, and turning to me, said, in a
low voice:
"'More bad Indian. Him hear shot. Him come back and find him broder
shot. Him follow soon now. If catchee Moon-eye and pale-face broder,
him killee for sartain.'
"This being very much my own opinion, I asked the girl how far off her
friends were, and as she now saw that something more than mere
curiosity dictated the question, she replied at once:
"'Two--tree--twenty mile. Bad Indian catchee before get to camp.'
"On further inquiry I found that she thought there must have been full
fifty of the robbers who had attacked the camp of her people when most
of the warriors were absent--that they had captured several other
prisoners besides herself--that they had divided into three parties,
doubtless for the sake of greater safety in their flight, and that one
of these parties had sundry horses laden with plunder, whilst the other
party had the remaining captives. In all probability the shots fired
during my combat with the ten Indians, who had been in charge of her,
had been heard by one or both of these parties, and the cries we now
heard proceeded from them. They would certainly follow upon our trail,
and our chances of escape depended as much upon the numbers of our
pursuers as upon any skill or strength of ours. For if thirty or forty
warriors were behind us, not only would resistance be vain, but we
should probably be surrounded before we had travelled far, whereas if
only a few of the savages had returned, and made the discovery of the
death of their friends, there was greater hope that we might elude
them. Our only chance was to push on, and, having more than a mile
start, we must make the best of it. Accordingly,'Moon-eye' advanced
rapidly and cautiously, and I followed her, through the forest, and we
must have gone quite another mile before we exchanged a word. By this
time we had arrived at a sort of hill, upon which the trees grew less
thickly than at other parts of the forest. At the foot of this hill the
ground broke away to the right, the trees became still more scanty, and
a wide chasm yawned at the distance of some twenty yards from where we
stood, the descent into which was down a precipice many feet in height,
whilst on the other side of the chasm the forest rose again, and grew
on in unbroken continuity. To the left the trees were somewhat thicker,
and some forty or fifty yards before us, as we bore to that side in
ascending the hill, we perceived a building of some sort, towards which
my companion directed her way. Making me a sign to remain where I was
for a moment, she crept forward to reconnoitre, and presently
returning, motioned me to follow her, whilst she made her way directly
to the right, in the direction of the precipice, to the very edge of
which she advanced. Thence we looked down into a frightful abyss, down
which, if one had tumbled, one would have had no chance of escape. Bits
of jagged rock projected here and there; vegetation seemed suspended
for some distance down, and then the eye rested upon thick and tangled
bushes jutting out from the sides of the rock, and completely
concealing the bottom of the chasm, if, indeed, it had any bottom at
all, for it might be endless as far as one could see from the top.
Leaning carefully forward, my companion tore a branch or two from the
bushes growing near the edge of the precipice, and gave the place the
appearance of having been disturbed by the passage of some heavy body.
She then took from my neck a handkerchief, which I had on by way of a
neck-cloth, and which I did not in the least want to part with, but, of
course, gave it up readily at her request; then she calmly dropped it
over the side of the precipice, so that it hung upon one of the few
bushes which grew a little way down the chasm. She then turned to me
and said, in a low voice:
"'Bad Indian tink him fall down cliff--no follow any more;' and with
these words noiselessly retraced her way, treading so carefully in her
former footsteps as to make it appear as if there was only one trail,
and that pointing _towards_ the precipice.
"When we had arrived at the spot from which she had previously gone to
reconnoitre, we slowly ascended by the same way she had travelled
before, carefully covering up and hiding all trace of our footsteps
until we had reached the building to which I have already alluded.
"It was apparently composed entirely of logs, and seemed as if it had
been built for the lodge, or more likely a place of refuge, for some
hunting party. The logs were roughly hewn, but skilfully laid together,
forming a strong building, with only one entrance, and that by means of
a door which had long since been broken down and destroyed. There were,
however, two stories to the building, and as soon as we had entered the
doorway, we found ourselves in a large room, some ten feet high at
least, with a strong flooring of logs overhead. 'Moon-eye' rapidly made
her way to one corner of this place, where stood some rude wooden
steps, above which was an opening in the flooring above. These she
ascended, motioning me to follow, and we presently crept through the
opening into the upper room. This was lighted by two windows, one at
each side, and had a stout roof overhead. There was no furniture
whatever in it, but only a number of dried leaves, which seemed to have
blown in at the windows from time to time, since the place had been
deserted. 'Moon-eye' trod gently across the floor towards one of those
windows, and on following her I found that it commanded a view in the
direction from which we had come, but a view limited of course by the
trees which grew within a short distance of the building. Turning to
me, the girl now whispered in her own guttural accents:
"'Bad Indian no come here, 'fraid of wicked spirit--kill much hunter
here one day--times ago.'
"I gathered from this remark that the place in which we were, had been
the scene of some cruel massacre by the Indians in days past, and that
the savages probably avoided it from superstitious fear. This gave me a
double pleasure, for whilst it increased my hopes of safety for the
maiden as well as for myself, it showed me, that she was one of those
Indians whom superior intelligence, and perhaps a better education than
is common among the females of her race, had raised above their common
prejudices. Her plan was easily to be perceived. Could the pursuers be
led to believe that we had fallen down the precipice, perhaps having
turned aside from our path with a natural desire to avoid the haunted
building, they would perhaps abandon further pursuit, and continue
their journey. The place in which we now were, might have been easily
defended by a few men against a much larger number of enemies; and, as
I had my rifle with me, I might have made a stand even where I was, but
it was absolutely necessary to leave the door and the aperture into the
upper room open, inasmuch as the sight of any defence, however slight,
would at once disclose our hiding-place to those who sought us. Nor,
indeed, was there much time for consideration as to the best plan to
adopt. In going to and returning from the edge of the precipice, and
subsequently in concealing our trail, we had occupied some little time;
and scarcely had we reached the upper story, than a yell arose from the
forest which betokened the immediate advance of the foe. There was but
a moment for reflection; through the chinks of the logs near one of the
windows, we could see without being seen, and here we took our station,
watching and waiting in breathless suspense. We had not long to wait.
For some little time all was silence, and the forest looked so peaceful
and lovely, that it was difficult to believe it full of savage enemies
thirsting for our blood.
"Meanwhile, I have forgotten to tell you of that which was at one
moment our great difficulty, namely, my old friend Jumbo. Invaluable as
he was in a fight, when the question became one of concealing a trail,
he was very much the reverse. His trail was easy enough to discover,
and we were rather puzzled what to do about it. The dog, however, was
so intelligent that I felt sure he would understand the necessity of
our separation for a time. So when we turned from our first track in
order to approach the building, I pointed into the woods in the
contrary direction, and bade him in the most impressive manner to go
and wait for me there. The clever animal looked at me for a moment as
if to fully take in what I had said, and then quietly turned round and
entered the forest in obedience to my command. We were, therefore,
unincumbered by his presence whilst we awaited the coming of our
enemies in breathless anxiety in the upper story of the building.
"The savages were doubtless following up our trail all this time,
silently, slowly, but surely. The yells we had heard at first, were of
course caused by their discovery of the bodies of their friends: why
there had been a second yell, I have never discovered to this day,
unless it was that they had lost our trail for a moment, and that it
had been found again by some young warrior who had not sufficient
experience or self-restraint to prevent his announcing the welcome fact
by a shout. However this may be, they yelled no more, and after we had
waited for some ten minutes or less, the party arrived at the spot
whence we had ascended the hill, that is to say, within some fifty
yards of the place where we lay.
"As I have already said, the trees were thinner here than elsewhere,
and we could from this cause see sufficiently well to discern objects
moving about at that distance.
"It was late in the afternoon now, but the light was still good, and
'Moon-eye' looked with keen and anxious eyes through the chinks of the
logs in the direction of the savages. Though we could not count them,
we soon saw that there were certainly more than twenty of the rascals.
"The truth was, that _both_ the other two parties had heard the firing
which occurred during my fight with the ten who had attacked me, but
neither party liked to retrace their steps with their captives, and
each had therefore again divided, and sent back a portion of their
number to follow up the matter. These two divisions had met, and their
meeting and explanations had probably caused just that delay which had
enabled us to take shelter in our present place of refuge.
"All was silence for a few moments longer, whilst we saw the dusky
forms of the savages flitting, like evil spirits, through the trees at
the foot of the hill, and moving in the direction in which we had gone.
Then presently came a tremendous yell of mingled surprise and
disappointment. They had evidently arrived at the spot where we wished
them to believe we had fallen over the precipice. There was no more
silence now, but on the contrary a Babel of tongues arose, and the
savages chattered one to another like a number of old women over their
washing-tubs, if I may make such an irreverent comparison.
"My companion turned her head to me and smiled pleasantly, whilst her
eyes laughed with joy:
"'Sioux fool,' she whispered (from which remark I first learned the
tribe to which our foes belonged). 'Pawnee girl cheat him well. No
cheat Pawnee warrior so!'
"I said nothing, for I did not like the silence that suddenly ensued.
Whether some wiser chief had spoken, or what was the reason, I knew
not, but the clamour and confusion ceased all at once, and the Indians
began to return from the edge of the precipice, and spread themselves
around the foot of the hill as if in search of some new trail, or to
make sure that they had made no mistake. Still we lay quite quiet,
convinced that this was our best chance of safety, and hoping that the
superstitious fears of the savages would keep them from entering our
hiding-place.
"As they took no particular pains to conceal their movements, we could
plainly hear the leaves rustle, and the dried sticks crash as they
tramped through the surrounding woods; but for some time no one
approached the building. Then, all of a sudden, we heard a footstep
close below us. How we wished that it was a couple of hours later, when
we might have hidden more securely in one of the dark corners of the
room. This, however, was impossible, and we could only lie still where
we were, still trusting that even if an Indian were found bold enough
to enter the place in which we were, he would be content with
inspecting the lower apartment. Presently the step entered the
building, stealthily as that of a wolf creeping after his prey. A
moment of intense anxiety followed, to be succeeded by one of as
intense disgust. The steps creaked beneath the weight of a man, and the
head and shoulders of a powerful savage appeared above the opening. For
one instant he gazed round, his eyes being as yet unaccustomed to the
imperfect light.
"Had I been alone, I should probably have closed the aforesaid eyes
with a bullet then and there, but my companion restrained me with a
gesture, and in another second it was too late. The Indian naturally
said 'Hugh,' in a deep guttural tone. I never knew or read of an Indian
who did _not_ say 'Hugh' in a similar emergency, and the next moment he
disappeared. Then arose a shout which summoned his comrades, and within
a couple of minutes, my companion and I were standing outside the
unlucky building, with five-and-twenty of the most unpleasant looking
savages howling around us, in a manner doubtless most delightful to
themselves, but to us the very reverse.
"The gentleman who had discovered us was evidently the chief of the
party. He had got my rifle, confound him, and stood regarding us with
such a complacent, self-satisfied air that I would have paid down
half-a-crown cheerfully to have had one drive at his nose with my
clenched fist. This, however, was out of the question, partly because
it would have been a very rash and foolish proceeding under existing
circumstances, and partly because it would have been somewhat
difficult, seeing that my arms were securely fastened behind my back
with ropes of bark. Poor 'Moon-eye' was also bound, and did not seem
much to approve of the arrangement.
"The chief now approached us, and looked me steadfastly in the face,
whilst I, having nothing better to do, looked back at him. Presently he
gave a deep kind of cough or clearing of the throat, and after uttering
the usual 'Hugh,' remarked that he was 'Pig-face,' and a very great
chief. To this I responded, in plain English, that I didn't think much
of the name for beauty, but had no doubt but that he was a tremendous
'swell' in his own country, to which remark he gravely bowed assent,
evidently not understanding a word of it. He then came close to me,
and, lightly touching me on the shoulder, exclaimed in a somewhat
excited tone, 'Pale-face tief--no good--kill Pig-face young man--carry
off Pig-face squaw--must die.'
"Before I could by any possibility reply, 'Moon-eye' had interposed
with a torrent of invective of which I had scarcely supposed her
capable. She was terribly disgusted, I think (and no wonder at it) at
being called Pig-face's squaw by that illustrious chief, and she
certainly told him so in pretty plain terms, if her language (which I
did not understand) at all corresponded to her voice and manner. This
scene, however, could not last long. Although the Indian chief had
kindly informed me of my doom, it was not his intention that it should
be immediately fulfilled. He and his party had travelled many miles
that day, and felt inclined for a rest before going further; added to
which I imagine that they thought it would be more congenial to their
feelings to kill me in their own village. Accordingly, they very kindly
postponed that operation for the present, and leading us to a spot not
more than half a mile distant from our late refuge, prepared to encamp
for the night. Each of us captives, lady as well as gentleman, was
bound to a tree, which is by no means the easiest position in which to
pass the night, especially when vigilant eyes are upon you the whole
time, which was the case in this instance, as the Indians relieved each
other every two hours, so that we were closely watched through the
whole night, and had no opportunity of communicating with each other.
Early in the morning the party again set out, and poor 'Moon-eye' and
I, but little rested, were forced to accompany them, much against our
inclination. I will do the savages the justice to observe that they
loosened the girl's arms during the morning, but as they neglected to
perform the same kindness in my case, I felt remarkably uncomfortable.
We journeyed along for some distance, until we came to an open grassy
space, upon which we halted, and our captors, producing some venison
meat, sat down to make a meal, unbinding my arms for a while, and
pressed both me and my companion to share their food. I had carefully
counted their number during our march, and found that there were
twenty-four men, besides the excellent chief Pig-face, so that even if
I had been free and armed, I could neither have resisted nor escaped
from so great a number. I therefore determined to forbear from any such
attempt, which, besides being useless, might increase the severity of
our treatment.
"As we sat, the chief again approached us and indulged in some more
conversation. He spoke after the usual fashion of Indians, praising
himself and his people a good deal, abusing me and all white people
generally, and assuring me that my scalp should hang at his belt before
many days were past. I bethought me of all the wise things which I had
read of as having been said by 'Hawk-eye,' in Fennimore Cooper's
immortal books, and could have prated for half an hour about 'White
man's gifts,' and 'Red man's gifts,' if I had been so disposed. As,
however, the only 'gift' which I desired at that moment was one which
would have enabled me to set my companion and myself free, I did not
care to indulge in those sage moral reflections which always seemed to
me as I read them singularly out of place and extremely unlikely to
have formed part of the conversation of a backwoodsman. I therefore
merely thanked the savage, and informed him at the same time that my
scalp was exceedingly comfortable where it was, and that I had no
desire for its removal, a remark which he received with much composure,
and probably imagined to be a reply entirely to the purpose. Then he
began to tell my beautiful Moon-eye that she was foolish to have run
away, that no one could withstand Pig-face, and that she should
undoubtedly share his wigwam before long.
"The maiden heard him this time in dignified silence, and after a while
he left off talking, and directed his people to prepare to continue
their journey.
"We walked for a considerable distance, and having re-crossed the
stream near which my first encounter had taken place, travelled for
several miles without the occurrence of any incident worthy of note
until the second evening arrived. Whether the savages felt more secure
on account of being nearer their village, or from any other cause, I
cannot say, but certain it is that they now so far relaxed their
vigilance as to suffer my arms to be unbound for a time, and neither I
nor Moon-eye were apparently so closely watched during the supper hour.
Still, we knew but too well that keen eyes were upon us, and that
flight was out of the question.
"When the Indians had finished their meal, my companion and I were both
tied again, but not so fast as before, or at least not in so
objectionable a manner. We were suffered to lie down, our hands were
fastened before us, and a rope round one ankle secured each of us to a
tree. So darkness crept over the forest, and the savages were soon
buried in sleep.
"Presently a low whine attracted my attention, and I perceived my
faithful Jumbo, who had evidently followed us all the journey, too wary
to expose himself to view before he saw an opportunity of being of use.
Creeping gently up to me now, the affectionate brute first licked my
hands and face, though the latter was an attention with which I confess
I could have dispensed. Then he began gently to gnaw the bark ropes
which bound my wrists, and in a very short time succeeded in freeing my
hands. At that instant one of the Indians started up. Jumbo slunk away
in the shadow of the trees, whilst I kept my position, and endeavoured
to appear as if I was fast asleep. The savage was soon satisfied, and
lay down again, but I did not move for some minutes. Then I put out my
hand and reached a knife which one of the party had carelessly left
within my reach; with this I severed the fastening which held me to the
tree, and crawling a few yards, performed the same office for my
companion.
"Still we were not much better off, for if we ventured to fly, we were
certain to be speedily pursued and brought back. Therefore we looked at
each other with a mutually disconsolate air, and hesitated what to do
next. At this moment the hoot of an owl broke upon our ears. The eyes
of the Indian maiden opened to their fullest extent: her nostrils
seemed to tremble with excitement as she listened, and her features
worked with a convulsive movement. The cry was repeated.
"'Pawnee near--that him cry,' whispered the girl, and sat upright to
listen again.
"At that moment Pig-face suddenly sprang to his feet, as if he too had
heard and recognized the sound. But before he had time to utter a word
or cry, a furious yell broke the stillness of the night, and the
well-known war-cry of the Pawnees rang through the air. A band of these
brave people had started in pursuit of their enemies as soon as they
had discovered the theft of the latter, and the carrying off of
Moon-eye, upon their return to the camp. The Sioux would probably have
got clear off if, in the first place, the party of ten had not been so
desirous of getting my scalp, and if, in the second place, their
friends had not thought it necessary to attempt to revenge their death.
The time which they had lost in following and capturing us had enabled
the Pawnees to overtake them, and their surprise was complete. I must
say for the fellows that they lost no time in flying, and that too with
amazing dexterity, for they disappeared like magic on all sides,
Pig-face included. Fortunately for them, the anxiety of the Pawnees to
recover the lost maiden was much in favour of their escape, for it
appeared that the warriors had reasoned, wisely enough, that if they
surrounded the camp, the position of the captives might be dangerous,
whereas if they attacked on one side only the enemy would, in all
probability, be principally occupied in securing his own safety.
So, indeed, it turned out, and out of the twenty-five savages who had
captured us, I believe that nearly one-half escaped unhurt. More might
have done so if the gallant Jumbo had not thought it necessary to take
an active part in the combat, which he did by pursuing and pulling down
several of the Sioux, who thus became easy victims to their pursuers.
"Pig-face and four of his men were taken unhurt, and when our friends
re-assembled, and congratulations had passed between them and Moon-eye,
the latter, having introduced me to her tribe, told them of the fate
which the Sioux chief had intended for each of us.
"The leader of the Pawnees, who rejoiced in the name of 'the
Rattle-snake,' and was painted to represent that interesting animal,
approached the unhappy Pig-face after this, and gave him a piece of his
mind upon the subject. I did not understand what he said, of course,
being, as I told you before, somewhat ignorant of their language; but I
knew by the manner of the two that they were going on after the usual
Indian fashion, the one telling the other that he should soon be tied
to the stake, and what jolly fun it would be to torture him till he
howled again, and the other replying that he was a great chief, that
the other belonged to a nation of women, and that if he tortured him as
he said, he would see that a chief knew how to die.