"Then you were not alone? Who was the redskin that was with you?"
"An Iroquois youth, named 'Young Eagle.'"
"The son of White Eagle, the great chief?"
"The same. There was another also--a young paleface friend of mine. We
lost each other in the forest, after dark, when the redskins were hot on
our trail. After that I missed my way, and wandered back to the camp in
mistake. Then, filled with terror and despair, I plunged madly back
into the forest, until I sank exhausted, where you found me; but tell
me, trapper, how did I save your life? for 'tis all a mystery to me."
"When you fired that shot at sunset, I was in a tight corner, for I was
a prisoner in the Algonquin camp. Red Wolf, the Algonquin chief, is a
great enemy of mine. Long he has tried to trap me, but I have always
been able to circumvent him. This time he took me unawares. He and six
of his braves pounced upon me suddenly in the forest three days ago,
when I was splitting a few logs for my fire, and before I had a chance
to defend myself I was tied up."
"And they tortured you, did they not?" asked Jamie.
"See here what the fiends did!" and the hunter showed a dozen scars and
open wounds that had not yet healed.
"The monsters! How did you escape?"
"You know their custom of torturing their prisoners from sunset till
dawn."
"Yes."
"Well, after all this they made a fire, and after a few more tortures I
believe the varmint would have burnt me to death, for one fiend had made
an iron red-hot, with which to sear and brand me, when suddenly the
half-uttered yell of their scout, followed by the crack of your rifle,
burst upon their ears."
"Yes! yes! What happened then?" asked Jamie impatiently.
"Why, every man Jack of them seized their rifles and tomahawks, and
bolted out of the camp to the help of the scout, leaving me alone, bound
hand and foot to a tree."
"And how did you free yourself?"
"Why, the scamp who had been threatening to brand me, when he bolted
with the rest, dropped the hot iron at my feet, so that it burnt this
hole in my moccasin. See here. The opportunity was too good to be lost,
so I wriggled and shuffled my feet till the iron came in contact with
the lowest thong. It was burnt through in less than a minute, and in
another five minutes I was free."
"That was worthy of a trapper and a frontiersman. The implement of
torture was a blessing in disguise."
"I didn't remain long in the camp, I can tell you, for at any moment the
redskins might have returned, and there is no doubt that they would have
scalped me on the spot, in revenge for what the Young Eagle had done. I
was unable to walk for a few minutes, so tightly had they bound me; but
I rubbed and chafed my limbs till the circulation was restored, and then
I seized my rifle and knife and walked off. At dawn I stumbled across
you, and--here we are; a match for a dozen Indians yet, let them come
when they will," and the trapper laughed silently.
"Paleface, I'm glad to have met you," said Jamie, rising from the ground
and extending his hand to his new friend. "I have had so many unhappy
experiences during the past twenty-four hours, that I had begun to doubt
the Providence which has delivered me so often, but I shall never doubt
again, for God has never failed me yet."
There was something very much like a tear that trickled down the rough
face of the trapper as he grasped the extended hand and said, in quiet
but earnest tones--
"He never will fail you--if you trust Him."
"If only my two comrades were alive I should be the happiest creature in
all this wide forest."
"They are both alive."
"What!" exclaimed the lad. "Both alive? How do you know that?"
"Before dawn I heard the Indians return to camp, and their yells of
triumph told me that they had either brought in prisoners or scalps.
Being anxious to know whether their prisoners were Indians or Yengeese,
I crept back again to the edge of the camp."
"Indeed!" interposed Jamie, interrupting the narrative. "Weren't you
afraid of being captured again?"
"Tut! tut! He'll be a smart Indian who can catch an old trapper twice."
"Well, what did you discover?"
"Before I reached the spot I heard a fierce yell of anger. That I knew
to be caused by the discovery that I had escaped. When at last I
reached a little rising ground overlooking the camp, where the shrub was
very thick, I saw two prisoners tied to the self-same tree to which I
had been tied but a few hours before."
"What were they like?"
"One was an Indian youth. I knew him at once. He was the eldest son of
White Eagle, and the other was a stranger to me. He was a paleface in
the garb of an Indian hunter, and he must have been your companion.
This only I discovered, for my stay was a brief one, and the reason why
I have remained in the vicinity of the Algonquins is because I have been
hopeful that an opportunity will occur to save them, else they will
either be tortured to death, or carried to the Canada lodges."
"You fill me with joy and with hope, trapper. We must and will save
them! Nothing shall prevent us!" exclaimed Jamie, who was overjoyed at
this good news.
"If only we had White Eagle and twenty of his Iroquois braves here we
might do something, before it is too late."
"White Eagle will be here with some of his warriors by noon to-morrow,"
replied the lad.
"What's that you say? Who has gone for him?"
"Swift Arrow. We dispatched him at dawn yesterday, as soon as we found
that you were a prisoner." And then Jamie told the old man all he
knew--how they had struck the trail of the Algonquins, how the Indian
lad had scouted all night, and had crept up to the enemy's camp, and
reported that they held as a prisoner a great paleface hunter, who was
the friend of White Eagle, and how Swift Arrow had departed for
assistance. He told all, except his dream.