CHASED BY A MADMAN
Bonny's bed was nearest the side of the hut, while Alaric lay beyond him
towards its centre. Morning was breaking when the former awoke from a
troubled dream, so filled with a presentiment of impending evil that his
forehead was bathed in a cold perspiration. For the space of a minute he
lay motionless, striving to reassure himself that his terror was without
foundation. All at once he became conscious that some one was talking in
a low tone, and, glancing in that direction, saw the form of their host,
magnified by the dim light into gigantic proportions, bending over
Alaric. The man held an uplifted knife, and was muttering to himself in
German; but at Bonny's cry of horror he leaped to his feet and
disappeared through the doorway.
"What is the matter?" asked Alaric, sleepily, only half awakened by
Bonny's cry. "Been having bad dreams?"
"Yes, and a worse reality," answered the other, huskily. "Oh, Rick! he
was going to kill you, and if I hadn't waked when I did we should both
have been dead by this time. He has made up his mind to murder us; I
know he has."
A minute later Alaric had heard the whole story, and, as excited as
Bonny himself, was hurriedly slipping on his coat and boots. They knew
not which way to go, nor what to do, but both were eager to escape from
the hut into the open, where they might at least have a chance to run in
case of an attack.
As they emerged from the doorway, casting apprehensive glances in every
direction, Alaric's baseball, that had been left in one of his
coat-pockets the evening before, slipped through a hole in the lining
and fell to the ground. Hardly conscious of what he was doing, the lad
stooped to pick it up. At that same instant came the sharp crack of a
rifle and the "ping" of a bullet that whistled just above his head.
"He is shooting at us!" gasped Bonny. "Come, quick, before he can
reload."
Without another word the lads dashed into the clump of trees sheltering
the camp, and down the slope on which it stood. They would have
preferred going the other way, but the rifle-shot had come from that
direction, and so they had no choice. Their movements being at first
concealed by the timber, there was no sign of pursuit until they gained
the open valley and started to cross it. Then came a wild yell from
behind, and they knew that their flight was discovered.
Breathlessly they sped through the dewy meadow, sadly impeded by its
rank growth of grass and flowers, towards a narrow exit through the wall
bounding its lower end that Alaric had long ago discovered. Through this
a brawling stream made its way, and by means of its foaming channel the
boys hoped to effect an escape.
As they gained the rocky portal Bonny glanced back and uttered a cry of
dismay, for their late host was in plain view, leaping down the slope
towards the meadow they had just crossed. He was then bent on overtaking
them, and the pursuit had begun in earnest.
As there was no pathway besides that offered by the bed of the stream,
they were forced to plunge into its icy torrent and follow its
tumultuous course over slippery rocks, through occasional still pools
whose waters often reached to the waist, and down foaming cascades, with
a reckless disregard for life or limb. In this manner they descended
several hundred feet, and when from the bottom they looked up over the
way they had come they felt that they must surely have been upborne by
wings. But there was no time for contemplation, for at that moment a
plunging bowlder from above warned them that their pursuer was already
in the channel.
Now they were in a forest, not of the giant trees they would find at a
lower altitude, but one of tall hemlocks and alpine-firs, growing with
such density that the panting fugitives could with difficulty force a
way between them. They stumbled over prostrate trunks, slipped on beds
of damp mosses, were clutched by woody fingers, from whose hold their
clothing was torn with many a grievous rent; and, with all their
efforts, made such slow progress that they momentarily expected to be
overtaken. Nor were their fears groundless, for they had not gone half a
mile ere a crashing behind them told that their pursuer was close at
hand. As they exchanged a despairing glance, Bonny said: "The only thing
we can do is hide, for I can't run any farther."
"Where?" asked Alaric.
"Here," replied Bonny, diving as he spoke into a bed of ferns. Alaric
followed, and as they flattened themselves to the ground, barely
concealed by the green tips nodding above their backs, the madman leaped
into the space they had just vacated, and stood so close to them that
they could have reached out and touched him. His cap had disappeared,
his hair streamed over his shoulders like a tawny mane; his clothing was
torn, a scratch had streaked his face with blood, and his deep-set eyes
shone with the wild light of insanity. He had flung away his rifle, but
his right hand clutched a knife, keen and long-bladed. The crouching
lads held their breath as he paused for an instant beside them. Then,
uttering a snarling cry, he dashed on, and with cautiously lifted heads
they watched him out of sight.
"Whew!" ejaculated Bonny, "that was a close call. But I say, Rick, this
business of running away and being chased seems quite like old times,
don't it?"
"Yes," answered Alaric, with a shuddering sigh of mingled relief and
apprehension, "it certainly does, and this is the worst of all. But what
shall we do now?"
"I don't know of anything else but to keep right on downhill after going
far enough to one side to give his course a wide berth. I'd like awfully
to have some breakfast, but I wouldn't go back to that camp for it if it
were the only place in the world. I'd about as soon starve as eat
another mouthful of goat, anyway. We are sure to come out somewhere,
though, if we only stick to a downward course long enough."
So the boys bore to the right, and within a few minutes had the
satisfaction of noting certain gleamings through the trees that
betokened some kind of an opening. Guided by these, they soon came to a
ridge of bowlders and gravel, forming one of the lateral moraines of a
glacier that lay in glistening whiteness beyond.
"We might as well follow along its edge," suggested Bonny; "for all
these glaciers seem to run downhill, and, bad as the walking is over mud
and rocks, we can make better time here than through the woods."
They had not gone more than a mile in this fashion, and, believing that
they had successfully eluded their pursuer, were rapidly recovering from
their recent fright, when they were startled by a cry like that of a
wild beast close at hand. Glancing up, they were nearly paralyzed with
terror to see the madman grinning horribly with delight at having
discovered them, and about to rush down the steep slope to where they
stood.
[Illustration: "THEY WERE PARALYZED WITH TERROR TO SEE THE MADMAN
GRINNING HORRIBLY"]
There was but an instant of hesitation, and then both lads sprang out on
the rugged surface of the glacier, and made a dash for its far-away
opposite side. It was a dangerous path, slippery, rough beyond
description, and beset with yawning crevasses; but they were willing to
risk all its perils for a slender chance of escaping the certain death
that was speeding towards the place they had just left. If they could
only gain the opposite timber, they might possibly hide as before. It
was a faint hope, but their only one.
So they ran, slipped, stumbled, took flying leaps over the parted white
lips of narrow crevasses, and made detours to avoid such as were too
wide to be thus spanned. They had no time to look behind, nor any need.
The fierce cries of the madman warned them that he was in hot pursuit
and ever drawing nearer. At one place the ice rang hollow beneath their
feet, and they even fancied that it gave an ominous crack; but they
could not pause to speculate as to its condition. That it was behind
them was enough.
Ere half the distance was passed they were drawing their breath with
panting sobs, and Bonny, not yet wholly recovered from his illness,
began to lag behind. Noting this, Alaric also slackened his speed; but
his comrade gasped:
"No, Rick. Don't stop. Save yourself. I'm done for. You can't help me.
Good-bye."
Thus saying, and too exhausted to run farther, the lad faced about to
meet their terrible pursuer, and struggle with him for a delay that
might aid the escape of his friend. To his amazement, there was no
pursuer, nor in all that white expanse was there a human being to be
seen save themselves.
At his comrade's despairing words Alaric too had turned, with the
determination of sharing his fate; so they now stood side by side
breathing heavily, and gazing about them in wondering silence.
"What has become of him?" asked Bonny at length, in an awed tone, but
little above a whisper.
"I don't know," replied Alaric. "He can't have gone back, for there
hasn't been time. He can't be in hiding, for there is no place in which
he could conceal himself, nor have we passed any crevasse that he could
not leap. But if he has slipped into one! Oh, Bonny! it is too awful to
think of."
"I heard him only a few seconds ago," said Bonny, in the same awed tone,
"and his voice sounded so close that with each instant I expected to be
in his clutches."
"Bonny!" exclaimed Alaric, "do you remember a place that sounded
hollow?"
"Yes."
"We must go back to it, for I believe he has broken through. If it is in
our power to help him we must do it; if not, we must know what has
happened."
They had to retrace their steps but a few yards before coming to a
fathomless opening with jagged sides and splintered edges, where the
thin ice that had afforded them a safe passage had given way beneath the
heavier weight of their pursuer. No sound save that of rushing waters
came from the cruel depths, nor was there any sign.
The boys lingered irresolutely about the place for a few minutes, and
then fled from it as from an impending terror.
For the remainder of that day, though no longer in dread of pursuit,
they made what speed they might down the mountain-side, following rough
river-beds, threading belts of mighty forest, climbing steep slopes, and
descending others into narrow valleys.
The sun was near his setting, and our lads were so nigh exhausted that
they had seated themselves on a moss-covered log to rest, when they were
startled by a heavy rending crash that echoed through the listening
forest with a roar like distant thunder.
The boys looked at each other, and then at what bits of sky they could
see through the far-away tree-tops. It was of unclouded blue, and the
sun was still shining.
"Rick!" cried Bonny, starting to his feet, "I believe it was a falling
tree."
"Well?"
"I mean one that was made to fall by axe and saw."
"Oh, Bonny!" was all that Alaric could reply; but in another instant he
was leading the way through tall ferns and along the stately forest
aisles in the direction from which had come the mighty crash.