ON WATCH
The wagons drew up in a great square on the open plain, but just at the
edge of the timber, and the men, breathless, perspiring, but victorious,
dropped from their horses. The Comanches still galloped to and fro and
shouted in the distance, but they kept well out of rifle shot, and Phil,
although it was his first battle, knew that they would not attack again,
at least not for the present. They had been driven out of an extremely
strong position, ground of their own choosing, and nothing remained to
them but to retire.
The boy stood by the side of his horse, holding the bridle in one hand
and the rifle in the other. He was still trembling from the excitement
of forcing the ford and the battle among the trees, but the reddish mist
before his eyes was gradually clearing away. He let the bridle rein
drop, and put his hand to his face. It came away damp and sticky. He
looked at it in an incurious way to see if he were wounded, but it was
only dust and the smoke of burned gunpowder, kneaded together by
perspiration. Then he felt cautiously of his body. No bullet or arrow
had entered.
"Unhurt, Phil?" boomed out the voice of Bill Breakstone beside him. "So
am I, and so is Middleton. Arenberg got a scratch, but he's forgotten it
already. But, I trow, Sir Philip of the River, that was indeed a combat
while it lasted!
"The Comanches shot
With spirit hot,
But now, they're not.
"You can't say anything against that poem, Phil; it's short and to the
point. It's true that the Comanches are not entirely gone, but they
might as well be. Let 'em shout out there in the plain as much as they
choose, they're going to keep out of rifle range. And I congratulate
you, Phil, on the way you bore yourself through your first 'baptism of
fire.'"
"I thank you, Bill," said Phil, "but the fact is, I don't know just how
I bore myself. It's been more like a dream than anything else."
"That's likely to happen to a man the first time under fire, and the
second time, too, but here we are on the right side of the river and
ready for a breathing spell."
Phil threw the reins over his horse's neck, knowing that the latter
would not leave the camp, and set to work, helping to put everything in
order, ready for fight or rest, whichever the Comanches chose to make
it. The wagons were already in a hollow square, and the wounded, at
least twenty in number, laid comfortably in the wagons, were receiving
the rude but effective treatment of the border. Seven or eight had been
killed, and three or four bodies had been lost in the current of the
stream. They were now digging graves for the others. Little was known
of the slain. They were wandering, restless spirits, and they may or
may not have been buried under their own names. They had fallen in an
unknown land beside an unknown river, but their comrades gave all due
honor as they put them beneath the earth. Middleton said a few words
over the body of each, while others stood by with their hats off. Then
they smoothed out the soil above them as completely as possible, in
order that their graves might be lost. They took this precaution lest
the Comanches come after they had gone, take up the bodies, and mutilate
them.
When the solemn task was done, the men turned away to other duties.
They were not discouraged; on the contrary, their spirits were sanguine.
The gloom of the burial was quickly dispelled, and these wild spirits,
their fighting blood fully up, were more than half willing for the
Comanches to give them a new battle. It was such as these, really
loving adventure and danger more than profit, who steadily pushed
forward the southwestern frontier in the face of obstacles seemingly
insuperable.
Their position at the edge of the wood, with the strong fortification of
the wagons, was excellent, and Middleton and Woodfall, after a short
consultation, decided to remain there until morning, for the sake of the
wounded men and for rest for all. Phil worked in the timber, gathering
up fallen fuel for fires, which were built in the center of the hollow
square, and he found the work a relief. Such a familiar task steadied
his nerves. Gradually the little pulses ceased to beat so hard, and his
head grew cool. When enough dead wood had been brought in, he took
another look at the western horizon. Comanches could still be seen
there, but they no longer galloped about and shouted. A half dozen sat
motionless on their ponies, apparently looking at the white camp, their
figures, horse and rider, outlined in black tracery against the
blood-red western sun. Phil had a feeling that, although beaten at the
ford, they were not beaten for good and all, and that the spirit of
Black Panther, far from being crushed, would be influenced to new
passions and new attack. But, as he looked, the Comanche horsemen
seemed to ride directly into the low sun and disappear. The hard work
that had kept him up now over, he felt limp, and sank down near one of
the fires.
"Here, Phil, drink this," said Bill Breakstone, handing him a cup of hot
coffee. "It has been a pretty hard day on the nerves, and you need a
stimulant."
Phil swallowed it all, almost at a draught--never had coffee tasted
better--and his strength came back rapidly. Breakstone, also, drank a
cup and sat down beside the boy.
"Here comes Arenberg," he said in a low tone to Phil. "That German was a
very demon to-day. He got right into the front of the charge, and after
his rifle was empty he clubbed it and brought down one of the
Comanches."
Phil looked up. Arenberg's face was still set in a stern, pitiless
mask, but when his eyes caught the boy's he relaxed.
"It iss a good day well spent," he said, throwing himself down by the
side of the two. "We never could have forced the ford if we had not
made that flank movement. Harm wass meant by both sides and harm wass
done. But it iss over now. How does the young Herr Philip feel?"
"Pretty good now," replied Phil, "but I've had my ups and downs, I can
tell you. A little while ago I felt as if there were no backbone in me
at all."
Food was now cooked, and, after eating, the three relapsed into silence.
Presently Middleton, also, joined them, and told them that very thorough
preparations had been made to guard against a surprise. Sentinels on
horseback were already far out on the plain, riding a watchful round
which would be continued all through the night.
"It is easy to guard against surprise on that side," said Middleton,
"but snipers may creep down the river bank in the timber. We must keep
our best watch there."
"I'll go on duty," said Philip promptly.
"Not yet," replied Middleton. "You may be needed late in the night, in
which case we'll call on you, but our most experienced borderers don't
think the Comanches will come back."
"You can never trust them," said Arenberg earnestly.
"We don't mean to," said Middleton. "Now, Phil, I'd advise you to wrap
yourself in your blanket and go to sleep. On a campaign it's always
advisable to sleep when you're off duty, because you never know when you
will get the chance again."
It seemed to Phil that it was impossible to sleep, after so much
excitement and danger, but he knew that Middleton was speaking wise
words, and he resolved to try. There were yet hours of daylight, but,
putting his blanket beneath him, he lay before one of the fires with his
arm under his head and closed his eyes. He would open them now and then
to see the yellow flames, the figures of the men moving back and forth,
and the circle of wagons beyond. He could not make himself feel sleepy,
but he knew that his nerves were relaxing. Physically he felt a
soothing languor, and with it came a mental satisfaction. He had helped
to win his first battle, and, like the older and seasoned men around
him, the victory encouraged him to bid further defiance to the Comanches
or anything else that threatened.
[Illustration: "Putting his blanket beneath him, he lay before one of
the fires"]
These reflections were so grateful that he found himself able to keep
his eyes shut longer. It was not so much of an effort to pull the
eyelids down, and when, at intervals steadily growing more distant, he
opened his eyes, it was to find the fires and figures of the men
becoming dim, while the circling line of the wagons beyond was quite
lost. At last the eyelids stayed down of their own accord, and he
floated away into a sleep that was deep, sweet, and refreshing.
Others in the camp slept, also, some in the wagons and some on the
ground, with saddles for pillows. Those whose duty it was to watch paid
no attention to them, but beat up the brush incessantly, and kept up
their endless circles on the plains. The somber clouds that had
obscured the morning floated away, driven back by a late afternoon sun
of uncommon splendor. The gray-green plains turned to a brilliant red
and gold; the willows, cottonwoods, and oaks seemed sheathed in gold,
every bough and twig; the muddy river took on rich gleaming tints, and
then suddenly the sun was gone, leaving all in darkness, save for the
smoldering fires.
Phil slept soundly hour after hour. He was so exhausted physically and
mentally that the relaxation was complete. No dream good or bad came to
trouble him, and Breakstone, who observed his peaceful face, said to
Middleton:
"Talk about knitting up the raveled sleeve of care. That boy is knitting
up both sleeves at the same time, and he is knitting them fast."
"He is a good lad," said Middleton, "and a brave one, too. It was his
first battle, but he certainly bore himself well. Now I wonder what
search is bringing him out here into the wilderness."
"And I guess he, too, often wonders the same about us."
"Just as I have wondered it about you, and as you have wondered it about
me."
"But we find it best--every one of us--to keep our search to ourselves
for the present."
"It is surely best."
The two men looked at each other rather significantly, and then talked
of other things.
Phil was awakened at midnight to take his turn at the watch. The night,
as it is so often on the plains of Texas, even in summer, was cold, and
he shivered a little when he drew himself out of his warm blankets. The
fires were nearly out, leaving only a few coals that did not warm, and
few figures were moving except outside the circle. His body told Phil
that he would much rather sleep on, but his mind told him with greater
force that he must go ahead and do his duty with a willing heart, a
steady hand, and a quick eye. So he shook himself thoroughly, and was
ready for action. His orders were to go in the timber a little to the
northward and watch for snipers. Three others were going with him, but
they were to separate and take regular beats.
Phil shouldered his rifle and marched with his comrades. They passed
outside the circles of wagons, and stood for a few moments on the bare
plain. Afar off they saw their own mounted sentinels who watched to the
westward, riding back and forth. The moon was cold, and a chill wind
swept over the swells, moaning dismally. Phil shivered and was glad
that he had a watch on foot in the timber. His comrades were willing to
hasten with him to that shelter, and there they arranged their beats.
The belt of timber was about a hundred yards wide, with a considerable
undergrowth of bushes and tall weeds. They cut the hundred yards into
about four equal spaces, and Phil took the quarter next to the river.
He walked steadily back and forth over the twenty-five yards, and at the
western end of his beat he regularly met the next sentinel, a young
Mississippian named Welby, whom Phil liked. They exchanged a few words
now and then, but, save their low tones, the monotonous moaning of the
wind among the trees, and an occasional sigh made by the current of the
river, which here flowed rather swiftly, there was no sound. On the
opposite bank the trees and bushes reared themselves, a wall of dark
green.
The chill of the night grew, but the steady walking back and forth had
increased the circulation and warmed the blood in Phil's veins, and he
did not feel it. His long sleep, too, had brought back all his strength,
and he was full of courage and zeal. He had suffered a reaction after
the battle, but now the second reaction came. The young victor,
refreshed in mind and body, feared nothing. Neither was he lonely nor
awed by the vast darkness of night in the wilderness. The words that he
spoke with Welby every few minutes were enough to keep him in touch with
the human race, and he really felt content with himself and the world.
He had done his duty under fire, and now he was doing his duty again.
He paused a little longer every time he came to the river, and forcing
his mind now to note every detail, he was impressed by the change that
the stream had undergone. There was a fine full moon, and the muddy
torrent of the day was turned into silver, sparkling more brightly where
the bubbles formed and broke. The stream, swollen doubtless by rains
about its source, flowed rapidly with a slight swishing noise. Phil
looked up and down it, having a straight sweep of several hundred yards
either way. Now and then the silver of its surface was broken by pieces
of floating debris, brought doubtless from some far point. He watched
these fragments as they passed, a bough, a weed, or a stump, or the
entire trunk of a tree, wrenched by a swollen current from some caving
bank. He was glad that he had the watch next to the river, because it
was more interesting. The river was a live thing, changing in color,
and moving swiftly. Its surface, with the objects that at times swept
by on it, was a panorama of varied interest.
Besides Welby he saw no living creature. The camp was hidden from him
completely by the trees and bushes, and they were so quiet within the
circle of the wagons that no sound came from them. An hour passed. It
became two, then three. Vaporous clouds floated by the moon. The
silver light on the river waned. The current became dark yellow again,
but flowing as ever with that soft, swishing sound. The change affected
Phil. The weird quality of the wilderness, clothed in dark, made itself
felt. He was glad when he met Welby, and they lingered a few seconds
longer, talking a little. He came back once more to the river, now
flowing in a torrent almost black between its high banks.
He took his usual long survey of the river, both up and down stream.
Phil was resolved to do his full duty, and already he had some
experience, allied with faculties naturally keen. He examined the
opposite bank with questioning eyes. At first it had seemed a solid
wall of dark green, but attention and the habit of the darkness now
enabled him to separate it into individual trees and bushes. Comanches
ambushed there could easily shoot across the narrow stream and pick off
a white sentinel, but he had always kept himself well back in his own
bushes, where he could see and yet be hidden.
His gaze turned to the river. Darker substances, drift from far banks,
still floated on its surface. The wind had died. The branches of the
trees did not move at all, and, in the absence of all other sound, the
slight swishing made by the flowing of the river grew louder. His
wandering eyes fastened on a small stump that was coming from the curve
above, and that floated easily on the surface. Its motion was so
regular that his glance stayed, and he watched it with interested eyes.
It was an independent sort of stump, less at the mercy of the current
than the others had been. It came on, bearing in toward the western
bank, and Phil judged that if it kept its present course it would strike
the shore beneath him.
The black stump was certainly interesting. He looked farther. Four
feet behind it was floating another stump of about the same size, and
preserving the same direction, which was a diagonal line with the
current. That was a coincidence. Yet farther was a third stump,
showing all the characteristics of the other two. That was remarkable.
And lo! when a fourth, and then a fifth, and then a sixth came, a
floating line, black and silent, it was a prodigy.
The first black stump struck lightly against the bank. Then a Comanche
warrior, immersed hitherto to the chin, rose from the stream. The water
ran in black bubbles from his naked body. In his right hand he held a
long knife. The face was sinister, savage, and terrible beyond
expression. Another of the stumps was just rising from the stream, but
Phil fired instantly at the first face, and then sprang back, shouting,
"The Comanches." He did not run. He merely sheltered himself behind a
tree, and began to reload rapidly. Welby came running through the
bushes, and then the others, drawn by the shout. In a minute the timber
was filled with armed men.
"What is it? What is it? What did you shoot at?" they cried, although
the same thought was in the minds of every one of them.
"The Comanches!" replied Phil. "They came swimming in a line down the
river. Their heads looked like black stumps on the water! I fired at
the first the moment he rose from the stream! I think it was their plan
to ambush and kill the sentinels!"
Bill Breakstone was among those who had come, and he cried:
"Then we must beat them off at once! We must not give them a chance to
get a footing on the bank!"
They rushed forward, Phil with them, his rifle now reloaded, and gazed
down at the river. They heard no noise, but that slight swishing sound
made by the current, and the surface of the stream was bare. The river
flowed as if no foreign body had ever vexed its current. Fifty pairs of
eyes used to the wilderness studied the stream and the thickets. They
saw nothing. Fifty pairs of ears trained to hear the approach of danger
listened. They heard nothing but the faint swishing sound that never
ceased. A murmur not pleasant to Phil, arose.
"I've no doubt it was a stump, a real stump," one of the older men said.
A deep flush overspread Phil's face.
"I saw a Comanche with long black hair rise from the water," he said.
The man who had spoken grinned a little, but the expression of his face
showed that doubt had solidified into certainty.
"A case of nerves," he said, "but I don't blame you so much, bein' only
a boy."
Phil felt his blood grow hot, but he tried to restrain his temper.
"I certainly saw a Comanche," he said, "and there were others behind
him!"
"Then what's become of all this terrible attack?"! asked the man
ironically.
"Come! Come!" said Woodfall. "We can't have such talk. The boy may
have made a mistake, but the incident showed that he was watching well,
just what we want our sentinels to do."
Phil flushed again. Woodfall's tone was kindly, but he was hurt by the
implication of possible doubt and mistake. Yet Woodfall and the others
had ample excuse for such doubts. There was not the remotest sign of an
enemy. Could he really have been mistaken? Could it have been
something like a waking dream? Could his nerves have been so upset that
they made his eyes see that which was not? He stared for a full minute
at the empty face of the river, and then a voice called:
"Oh, you men, come down here! I've something to show you!"
It was Bill Breakstone, who had slipped away from them and gone down the
bank. His voice came from a point at least a hundred yards down the
stream, and the men in a group followed the sound of it, descending the
slope with the aid of weeds and bushes. Bill was standing at the edge
of a little cove which the water had hollowed out of the soft soil, and
something dark lay at his feet.
"I dragged this out of the water," he said. "It was floating along,
when an eddy brought it into this cove."
They looked down, and Phil shut off a cry with his closed teeth. The
body, a Comanche warrior, entirely naked, lay upon its back. There was
a bullet hole in the center of the forehead. The features, even in
death, were exactly those that the boy had seen rising from the water,
sinister, savage, terrible beyond expression. Phil felt a cold horror
creeping through all his bones, but it was the look of this dead face
more than the fact that he had killed a man. He shuddered to think what
so much malignant cruelty could have done had it gained the chance.
"Well, men," said Bill Breakstone quietly, "was the story our young
friend here told such stuff as dreams are made on, or did it really
happen?"
"The boy told the truth, and he was watching well," said a half dozen
together.
The old frontiersman who had so plainly expressed his disbelief in
Phil--Gard was his name--extended his hand and said to the lad:
"I take it all back. You've saved us from an ambush that would have
cost us a lot of men. I was a fool. Shake hands."
Phil, with a great leap of pride, took the proffered hand and shook it
heartily.
"I don't blame you, Mr. Gard," he said. "Things certainly looked
against me."
"The Comanches naturally took to flight when their leader was killed,"
said Woodfall. "They could not carry through such an attempt without
surprise, but good eyes stopped them."
Phil's heart leaped again with pride, but he said nothing. They climbed
back up the slope, and the guard in the timber was tripled for the short
time until day. Phil was told that, as he had already done so much, he
might go off duty now.
He was glad enough to seek rest, and so rapidly was he becoming used to
danger that he lay down calmly before one of the fires and went to sleep
again. He awoke two or three hours later to a crisp fresh morning, and
to the news that the train would promptly resume its advance, whether or
not Comanches tried to bar the way. With the intoxicating odor of
victory still in their nostrils, the hardy frontiersmen were as willing
as ever for another combat. But the enemy had disappeared completely.
A brilliant sun rose over the gray-green swells, disclosing nothing but
a herd of antelope that grazed far to the right.
"The antelope mean that no Comanches are near," said Arenberg. "The
warriors will now wait patiently and a long time for a good opportunity.
Sometimes much harm iss done where much iss intended."
"That is so," chanted Bill Breakstone.
"Over the plains we go,
Our rifles clear the way.
The Indians would say no.
Our band they cannot stay.
"As I have often remarked before, Phil, my poetry may be defective in
meter and some other small technicalities, but it comes to the point.
That, I believe, was the characteristic of Shakespeare, also. I agree,
too, with Arenberg, that the Comanches will not trouble us again for
some time. So, I pray thee, be of good cheer, Sir Philip of the Merry
Countenance, Knight of the Battle beside the Unknown River, Slayer of
Comanches in the Dark, Guardian of the Public Weal, et cetera, et
cetera."
"I am cheerful," said Phil, to whom Breakstone was always a tonic, "and
I believe that we can beat off the Comanches any time and every time."
"Jump on your horse," said Breakstone, a little later; "we're all
ready."
Phil leaped into the saddle with one bound. The train moved forward,
and he and Breakstone joined Middleton and Arenberg at its head.
Middleton had powerful glasses, and he swept the plain far ahead, and to
right and left. His gaze finally settled on a point to the south-west.
The others followed his look with great interest, but the naked eye
could see nothing but the rolling gray-green plains and the dim blue
horizon beyond. Middleton looked so long that at last Bill Breakstone
asked:
"What do you see?"
"I do not see anything that I can really call living," replied
Middleton, "but I do see a knoll or slight elevation on the plain--what
would be called farther north a butte--and on that knoll is a black
blur, shapeless and unnamable at this distance."
"Does the black blur move?" asked Bill Breakstone.
"I cannot tell. It is too far even for that, but from it comes a beam
of brilliant light that shifts here and there over the plain. Take a
look, Bill."
Breakstone eagerly put the glasses to his eyes, and turned them upon the
knoll.
"Ah, I see it!" he exclaimed. "It's like a ball of light! There it
goes to the right! There it goes to the left! Now it falls in our
direction! What in the name of Shakespeare's thirty-five or forty plays
is it, Cap?"
"Let me have the glasses, I want another look," replied Middleton.
His second look was a long one taken in silence. At last he replied:
"It's a signal, lads. I've seen the Comanches talk to one another in
this way before. A Comanche chief is sitting on his horse on top of
that knoll. He holds a rounded piece of looking-glass in the hollow of
his hand, and he turns it in such a way that he catches the very
concentrated essence of the sun's rays, throwing a beam a tremendous
distance. The beam, like molten gold, now strikes the grass on top of a
swell off toward the north. It's a secret just how they do it, for not
yet has any white man learned the system of signals which they make with
such a glass. Ah!"
The "Ah!" came forth, so deep, so long drawn, and so full of meaning
that Phil, Arenberg, and Bill Breakstone exclaimed together:
"What is it?"
"I would not have known that the black blur on top of the knoll was a
chief on horseback if I had not been on the Texas plains before,"
replied Middleton, "but now I can make out the figures of horse and man,
as he is riding around and around in a circle and riding very rapidly."
"What does that mean?" asked Phil.
"It means danger, not to us, but to the Comanches. The warrior is
probably signaling to a band of his tribe who are meditating attack upon
us that we are too strong."
"Then it must be some fresh band," said Bill Breakstone, "because the
one that had the little encounter with us yesterday knew that already."
"I take it that you're right," said Middleton, smiling and closing the
glasses. "The second band won't molest us--not to-day."
"That seems to be a very effective way of signaling," remarked Phil.
"On the plains, yes," said Middleton. "It is astonishing how far such a
vivid beam of light will carry, as the crest of the knoll was too high
for it to be intercepted by the swells."
Middleton told Woodfall what they had seen. The leader's chin stiffened
a little more, and the wagons went on at the same pace, trailing their
brown length across the prairie.
About ten o'clock the march became difficult, as they entered a town,
but such a town! Its inhabitants were prairie dogs, queer little
animals, which darted down into their burrows at the approach of the
horsemen and wagons, often sharing the home with a rattlesnake. But the
horsemen were now compelled to proceed with exceeding care, as the
horses' feet often sank deep down in the dens. Stumbles were frequent
and there were several falls. Wagon wheels, also, sank, and the advance
became so difficult that Woodfall halted the train and sent Phil and
some others to find a way around the town.
They rode five or six miles to the south, and still the singular town
stretched away, apparently endless. Then they came back and rode five
or six miles to the north with the same result. Acting upon the advice
of Middleton, Woodfall, after hearing these reports, decided to go
straight on through the town. It was known that such towns had been
found twenty-five miles long, and this might be as large. So they went
directly ahead. The riders dismounted and led their horses. Three
times Phil killed coiling rattlesnakes with the butt of his rifle, but
he did not seek to molest any of the prairie dogs.
They moved very slowly, and it was three hours before they crossed the
prairie dog town, leaving behind them some destruction, but not more
than they could help.
"Well, Sir Philip of the Prairie Dogs, what name are you going to give
to the populous community through which we have just passed?" asked
Breakstone.
"I suppose Canine Center will do as well as any other," replied Phil.
"A wise selection, my gay youth," replied Bill Breakstone. "But these
animals, properly speaking, are not dogs, they are more like rats. I'm
glad we've passed 'em. It isn't pleasant to have your horse put his
foot in one of their dens and shoot you over his head. The good hard
plain for me."
He cantered forward, and Phil cantered with him, raising his head and
breathing the pure air that blew over such vast reaches of clean earth.
He felt the blood leaping in his veins again from mere physical
happiness. He began to whistle gayly, and then to sing "Open thy
lattice, love," a song just coming into favor, written by the man who
became yet more famous with "Old Kentucky Home" and "Suwanee River."
Phil had a fine, fresh, youthful voice, and Breakstone listened to him
as he sang through two verses. Then he held up his hand, and Phil
stopped.
"What's the trouble?" asked the boy.
"I don't object to your song, Phil, and I don't object to your singing,
but it won't be a good time for love to open the lattice; it will be
better to close it tight. Don't you feel a change in the air, Phil?
Just turn your face to the northwest, and you'll notice it."
Phil obeyed, and it seemed to him now that the air striking upon his
cheek was colder, but he imagined that it was due to the increasing
strength of the wind.
"I do not care if the wind is a little cold," he said. "I like it."
"The wind is cold,
And you are bold;
The sky turns gray
You're not so gay;
And by and by
For sun you'll sigh,"
chanted Bill Breakstone, and then he added:
"See that gray mist forming in a circle about the sun, and look at that
vapor off there in the northwest. By George, how fast it spreads! The
whole sky is becoming overcast! Unroll your blanket, Phil, and have it
ready to wrap around you I The whole train must stop and prepare!"
Bill Breakstone turned to give his warning, but others, too, had noticed
the signals of danger. The command stop was given. The wagons were
drawn rapidly into circle, and just as when the danger was Indians,
instead of that which now threatened, all the horses and mules were put
inside the circle. But now all the men, also, took their station
inside, none remaining outside as guard. The wind meanwhile rose fast,
and the temperature fell with startling rapidity. The edge of the blast
seemed to be ice itself. Phil, who was helping with the corral of
wagons, felt as if it cut him to the bone. He fully appreciated Bill
Breakstone's advice about the blanket. The day also was swiftly turning
dark. The sun was quite gone out. Heavy clouds and masses of vapor
formed an impenetrable veil over all the sky. Now, besides the cold,
Phil felt his face struck by fine particles that stung. It was the sand
picked up by the wind, perhaps hundreds of miles away, and hurled upon
them in an enveloping storm.
Phil pulled down his cap-brim and also sheltered his eyes as much as he
could with his left arm.
"It's the Norther," cried Breakstone. "Listen to it!"
The wind was now shrieking and howling over the plains with a voice that
was truly human, only it was like the shout of ten thousand human beings
combined. But it was a voice full of malice and cruelty, and Phil was
glad of the companionship of his kind.
The cold was now becoming intense, and he rapidly drew the blanket about
his body. Then he suddenly bent his head lower and completely covered
his eyes with his arm. It was hailing fiercely. Showers of white
pellets, large enough to be dangerous, pounded him, and, as the darkness
had now increased to that of night, he groped for shelter. Bill
Breakstone seized him by the arm and cried:
"Jump into the wagon there, Phil! And I'll jump after you!"
Phil obeyed with the quickness of necessity, and Breakstone came in on
top of him. Middleton and Arenberg were already there.
"Welcome to our wagon," said Arenberg, as Phil and Breakstone
disentangled themselves. "You landed on one of my feet, Phil, and you
landed on the other, Bill, but no harm iss done where none iss meant."
Phil cowered down and drew his blanket more closely around him, while
the hail beat fiercely on the arched canvas cover, and the cold wind
shrieked and moaned more wildly than ever. He peeped out at the front
of the wagon and beheld a scene indescribable in its wild and chilling
grandeur. The darkness endured. The hail was driven in an almost
horizontal line like a sheet of sleet. The wagons showed but dimly in
all this dusk. The animals, fortunately, had been tethered close to the
wagons, where they were, in a measure, protected, but many of them
reared and neighed in terror and suffering. One look satisfied Phil, and
he drew back well under cover.
"How often does this sort of thing happen in Texas?" he asked Arenberg.
"Not so often," replied the German, "and this Norther, I think, is the
worst I ever saw. The cold wind certainly blows like der Teufel. These
storms must start on the great mountains far, far to the north, and I
think they get stronger as they come. Iss it not so, Herr Breakstone?"
"Your words sound true to me, Sir Hans of the Beer Barrel," replied
Breakstone. "I've seen a few Northers in my time, and I've felt 'em,
but this seems to me to be about the most grown-up, all-around, healthy
and frisky specimen of the kind that I ever met."
Phil thought that the Norther would blow itself out in an hour or two,
but he was mistaken. Several hours passed and the wind was as strong
and as cold as ever. The four ate some cold food that was in the wagon,
and then settled back into their places. No attempt would be made to
cook that day. But Phil grew so warm and snug in his blanket among the
baggage, and the beating of the rain on the stout canvas cover was so
soothing, that he fell asleep after awhile. He did not know how long he
slept, because when he awoke it was still dark, the wind was still
shrieking, and the other three, as he could tell by their regular
breathing, were asleep, also. He felt so good that he stretched himself
a little, turned on the other side, and went to sleep again.