IN THE SOLITUDE.
Ned designed to drift down stream for a mile or so, by which time he
expected to be at such a distance that there was no further possible
danger of pursuit. It would then be necessary for him to get forward as
fast as he could, taking care to avoid the redskins who were in front,
rather than those in the rear.
He was a little alarmed to find, after going scarcely half that
distance, that the stream was broadening very rapidly. The current as a
consequence, became slower, and when he descried seemingly a large
forest looming up before him, he concluded that the time had about come
for him to disembark, and use his heels. But, prompted somewhat by
curiosity, he remained a while longer, until, before he was aware, he
discovered that the stream had debouched into a lake, nearly circular in
shape, and fully a couple of hundred yards in diameter. The impetus of
the current kept the tree moving slowly and still more slowly, until it
had reached a point near the middle, when it gradually settled down to a
complete standstill.
"That's odd!" exclaimed the lad, looking about him, and seeing the broad
sweep of water on every hand. "If I knew this I think I should have got
off."
It only remained for him to work his way to land, and this he began
doing by using his hands as paddles. It was slow progress; and he was of
the opinion that he had made a rather foolish blunder in permitting
himself to be "carried out to sea" in this fashion. He was disturbed
still further by the appearance of the sky. Dark, threatening clouds
were gathering and sweeping across it, frequently shutting out the light
of the moon and causing the most grotesque shadows to whisk over the
surface of the lake.
The indications were that a violent storm was close at hand, and he used
both hands with all the vigor at his command, and saw himself gradually
nearing land--the rate being so moderate that it could not keep pace
with his impatience. He was tempted more than once to leap into the
water and swim or wade ashore, but he restrained himself. On one of
these occasions, just as a heavy cloud approached the moon, and while
his raft was a dozen yards or so from shore, he was alarmed at sight of
something approaching him through the water. What it was he could not
conjecture, as it was low down, and very indistinct on account of the
gathering gloom.
As the cloud touched the moon and obscured the light, this suspicious
object disappeared, and he awaited with no little alarm the outcome of
the mystery. He was sitting motionless, looking and listening, when the
end of the tree was suddenly elevated a full foot, while the other
correspondingly descended.
With a gasp of terror, Ned clutched the limb near him and held on, not
knowing whither he was about to be flung. A muttering growl at the same
instant explained what it all meant, and he hastily retreated still
further upon the tree, expecting every moment to feel the claws of the
wild animal fastened upon him.
"It seems to me that these beasts are after me more than the Indians,"
was his thought, as he drew out his revolver, and awaited the necessity
of using it.
Further than placing his paws upon one end of the trunk, and giving out
a threatening growl, the animal did nothing for a few minutes, while the
boy, fully sensible of the value of his ammunition, was equally lacking
in offensive proceedings. Thus matters stood, while the great heavy
cloud floated slowly by the moon, and the head of the unwelcome stranger
gradually came to view.
It was some wild beast, beyond question, but it wasn't a bear. Its eyes,
shining with a phosphorescent glow, and the cavernous growling that
issued from the red jaws, made it seem the most frightful kind of a
monster. Hoping that it was not particularly hungry, Ned tried the scare
game again, flinging up his arms and shouting, and making noises
horrible enough to frighten any one to whom they remained unexplained.
In this case it succeeded admirably. The creature, whatever it was, must
have concluded that it was something besides a boy with which it had
taken passage, and, after indulging in one prolonged stare, dropped back
into the water and paddled straight for shore.
[Illustration: NED TRIED THE SCARE GAME AGAIN, FLINGING UP HIS ARMS AND
SHOUTING]
"I don't think Lone Wolf can follow me all along this route," concluded
the boy, as he resumed his paddling toward shore, and reached it in the
course of the next ten minutes. He had been cramped up in one position
so long that he felt the need of exercise, and started off at a rapid
pace, with no more idea of the precise direction he was following than
if he were blind.
The clouds sweeping across the sky grew heavier and darker, and the
wind, strong and chilling, soughed through the trees of the forest with
a dismal, wailing sound that would have frightened one of more years
than young Chadmund. Even he would have shrunk from the task of going
through the wood had the circumstances been different, but he was so
actuated by the one all-controlling desire of escape that he forgot the
real danger which encompassed him. Besides the risk of encountering the
Apaches, there was the ever-present peril from wild beasts and venomous
serpents. None of the latter as yet had disturbed him, but he was likely
to step upon some coiling reptile, unseen in the dark, whose sting was
certain death.
It soon became apparent that a storm of a most violent character was
about to burst forth. The wind grew stronger and colder, lightning
flashed athwart the darkening sky, and the thunder boomed with an
increasing power peculiar to warm countries. The wanderer had been
fortunate thus far in preserving himself from a ducking, and he was
still desirous of doing so. There was nothing to be gained by pressing
forward, and he began groping around for some kind of a shelter. This
was difficult to find, as the gloom was so dense that eyesight was
useless, and he could only use his hands.
"I guess I'll have to climb a tree," he thought, running his hand along
the bark of one.
But at this juncture he ran against a rock, striking with such violence
that he saw stars. As soon as he recovered he began an examination, and
was not a little pleased to find that under one portion of it there was
a hollow big enough for him to crawl in and protect himself from the
tempest. He had scarcely done so when the storm burst forth.
First a few large drops pattered upon the leaves, and then it seemed as
if the windows of Heaven had been opened. The rain descended in
torrents, the firmament flamed with a blinding intensity--and the earth
trembled with the reverberating thunder. The vivid sheets of electric
fire made the darkness and gloom deeper by contrast. The trees, with
their swaying branches, and the spear-like columns of rain, stood out
and vanished again so rapidly that the vision of the appalled lad was
dazzled and bewildered. The terrific shocks coming simultaneously with
the lightning, proved that the thunderbolts were falling all around him,
and again and again he thanked that Providence which had dissuaded him
from taking refuge in some of the trees.
_Crash!_
Directly in front of him, an immense giant of the forest was smitten
from top to base, the limbs, leaves, and splinters hurled in every
direction, as if a thousand pounds of powder had been exploded within.
The air was so surcharged with electricity that Ned felt the effect. A
prickling sensation down one entire side of his body was followed by a
partial numbness and paralysis that alarmed him. With his other hand he
hastily rubbed his limbs, and turned and twisted, fearing that he was
becoming helpless.
In a few minutes he regained the strength which had temporarily
departed, and then noticed that the storm was subsiding as rapidly as it
had arisen. The thunder died out in sullen mutterings; the lightning
flashed fitfully, often without any perceptible report following, and
the deluge diminished to a few drops.
"The storm is over, thank heaven!" he exclaimed. "As I have such a good
bed, I may as well stay here till morning."
But at this instant his blood almost froze at the sudden discovery of a
new and deadly peril.