MORE TROUBLES--WHO WAS BLOODY JIM--HIS ATTEMPT AT KIDNAPPING
LITTLE WOLF--THE CAUSE OF HIS HATRED AND OF THE TERROR HE
INSPIRED.
Quite like a little fury, Little Wolf burst into her own private
apartment. Locking the door, she stopped suddenly and stamped, in a
paroxism of grief and vexation.
"A drunkard's child!" she said scornfully "Disgrace!--I hate
everybody!--I wish I'd shot myself!--I wish I was dead!--I wish
father--" she did not finish the sentence; a loud knock at the door
interrupted her.
"Who's there?" she asked.
"Me," said Sorrel Top.
"Go away," said her young mistress, imperatively.
"Mammy sent me," said Sorrel Top, "the Doctor is dying."
"O, God!" exclaimed Little Wolf, in an agony, "I have got my wish."
Trembling violently, she descended to the parlor and found her father
stretched out on the sofa in an apoplectic fit. Wild and reckless as
her words had been, Little Wolf would not for the world have seen her
wishes fulfilled, and she was spared the remorse, which under the
peculiar circumstances, her father's death would have occasioned.
Not having perceived how completely her information respecting Bloody
Jim, had brought her father to his senses, she little dreamed that,
while she was giving orders to mammy, he was in another part of the
house inspecting the fastenings of the doors and shutters. Finding all
secure, he returned to the parlor, in order to learn the particulars
of her meeting with the being, whose very name had created such
terror and dismay throughout the household. Observing young Sherman
and Dr. Goodrich, he attempted to address them, but suddenly lost the
power of speech.
It was many hours before Dr. Goodrich dared give any encouragement of
his recovery to his almost distracted daughter. All night long, she
watched, with the young physician and Edward, by his bedside.
Daddy and others, kept a bright look out for the enemy; but he had
been too badly wounded, to attempt any further violence that night.
For reasons unknown to any except the parties concerned, Dr. DeWolf
had, in the person of Bloody Jim, a revengeful and deadly enemy. He
belonged to the Red River half-breeds. Several years before, while a
company of his people were encamped in the vicinity of St. Paul, on
the upper Mississippi, for the purpose of trafficking with the
whites, Dr. DeWolf had paid them a chance visit.
As some alleviation to the insupportable loneliness, which the recent
death of his wife occasioned, he accepted the invitation, of his
friend and financial adviser, Squire Tinknor, to spend a few weeks
with him, in the place above mentioned. This friend, was
unfortunately, for a man of the Doctor's irregular habits, wealthy,
wild and dissipated. Together they sought out and visited every place
of amusement. Returning in company, from a horse race, one pleasant
afternoon, they came in sight of the tented village, occupied by this
demi-savage people. The novelty attracted the Doctor's attention and
he insisted on alighting. "I must see what they've got in there," he
said, pointing towards a tent from which the sound of music was heard.
Peeping slyly through a crack in the canvas, he saw the music-maker, a
young girl, carelessly drawing a bow across the strings of a
dilapitated violin, while her own very sweet voice, dropped out a gay
stanza, in broken English. She was alone; so the Doctor boldly lifted
the door and went in. Five, ten and fifteen minutes, his companion
impatiently awaited his appearance, and at length, seriously disturbed
at his absence, he shouted his name.
"Yes, yes," said the Doctor from within, "I'm coming."
"What detained you so deuced long," said his friend, when they were
again on their way.
"O, playing the agreeable to a little fool, who was sawing away on a
greasy fiddle," said the recent widower of forty-five, or more. He was
careful not to mention that the "little fool," was beautifully formed,
with ruddy checks, with dark, loving eyes and, being rather handsome
himself, he had conceived the idea of captivating her silly heart. The
story of the "Spider and the fly," fitly illustrates the means by
which his purpose was afterwards accomplished.
His inamorata had innocently informed him that her protector,
"brother Jim," spent the most of his time in the city, and the Doctor
soon discovered that her savage looking relative frequently drank to
excess. Under such favorable circumstances it required but little
management to elude his vigilance. But, after the mischief was done,
it was not so easy to escape a brother's revenge; especially as that
brother's naturally ferocious nature had already acquired him the
title of "Bloody Jim."
Not many months after the Doctor had returned home, his punishment
began. He had just gone to the brewery to spend the evening, when his
little daughter came running in.
"O, papa," she exclaimed, panting for breath, "I met such a great tall
man out here--he wasn't an Injin--he talked a little like one, though.
He had on a blue coat with bright buttons, and he had such _awful_
eyes; O, dear!"
"What did he say, daughter?" said the Doctor, catching up his child,
and pressing her to his heart.
"O, he said, 'what name?' I told him papa always called me daughter,
mamma used to call me Little Wolf, and daddy and mammy called me
honey, pet, dove, love, and _every thing_, I wish I had a regular
name, papa--I mean to give orders to be called Little Wolf, for mamma
knew best, and she called me so."
"Little Wolf it shall be," said obedient papa. "But what next did the
man say?"
"O, he said 'papa's name.' I said Dr. DeWolf; than he made such a
coarse noise in his throat, just like an Injin; I thought he wanted to
get me, so I ran in here, quick."
Dr. DeWolf groaned in bitterness of spirit. He thought of Bloody Jim,
and was tortured with vague fears of what might be. He did not spend
that evening in drinking at the brewery. But it was the last night his
child knew a father's care. After that, he did nothing but drink,
drink. He had drank before, in spite of the pleadings of his wife,
whom his conduct had brought to a premature grave, and, as trouble
increased, he drank yet the more.
From the moment Bloody Jim saw the Doctor's beautiful child, he worked
to gain possession of her and spared her father's life for a time. In
pursuance of his plans he returned to the Red River country and
gathered about him a set of lawless wretches, whom he had before led
on to deeds of violence, and brought them to Chimney Rock. The gang
secreted themselves among the towering bluffs in the vicinity, and,
while watching for their prey, robbed all who came in their way. The
frequent outrages committed on travellers, spread alarm throughout the
surrounding country, and officers of justice were dispatched in search
of the perpetrators. In this state of affairs, Bloody Jim, resolved at
once to make a bold attempt to capture the coveted prize, and quit the
country. Selecting for his purpose, the hour when the Doctor was in
the habit of leaving home for the brewery, he lurked in ambush, until
Little Wolf, who usually accompanied her father the most of the way,
should return home alone, and, when the opportunity came, seized
suddenly upon her, and, in spite of her struggles, bore her away
towards the river. Leaping into a canoe, he threatened her with
instant death, if she made the slightest resistance, and pushed out
for the opposite shore. It was quite dusk when they landed on the
other side. The poor frightened child, now for the first time broke
the silence. She begged to be taken home again; but her captor only
laughed horribly. "I Bloody Jim," said he; "how you like to be my
wife?"
"O, take me home, I'm only a little girl," pleaded Little Wolf with
quivering lip.
"You be big, by and by."
As he said this, an unseen hand laid him senseless on the beach. The
same individual who dealt the blow, returned the child safely to her
home, and leaving her to tell her own story, disappeared.
A chill of horror crept over the Doctor, when mammy, the next morning,
related to him, her pet's adventure. He wrote immediately to his
friend, Squire Tinknor, for advice. "Send the child away to boarding
school," was the counsel given, and forthwith, the Doctor acted upon
it.
Four years at school, and a winter of fashionable life in New York,
transformed the little miss into an accomplished young lady.
When about to return home, she purchased a superb brace of pistols. At
her request, Mr. Marston, the brother of the young lady whose
hospitality she had shared, selected them for her. As he was one of
those quiet, fatherly sort of young men, who naturally win the
confidence, if not the love, of young ladies, she felt no hesitancy in
opening her heart to him, on the subject of the pistols. She also
related to him the story of her wonderful escape from Bloody Jim, and
positively declared that if he ever came near her again, she intended
to shoot him through the heart.
"But how would you reward the person who rescued you," said Mr.
Marston, eagerly.
"O, I'd do anything in the world for him," she replied, "if I only
knew who he was."
"Would you love him?"
"Yes, I'd love him."
Just then the peculiar expression of her sober friend's face startled
her, and she added, with one of her merry laughs, "provided he was not
a poky old bachelor."
The bachelor perceiving that his time had not yet come, allowed the
little would-be Amazon to depart, without again making the slightest
approach to the subject nearest his heart.
Her skill in the use of the silver-mounted weapons, excited great
admiration in the breast of daddy, whom she usually allowed to assist
in setting up a target, because she could not well get rid of him. His
eulogies were, on the whole, rather gratifying to her vanity, for
before his sight failed him, he had been no mean marksman.
Entirely unconscious of the dangerous resistance to be met, Bloody Jim
made his second attempt on Little Wolf's freedom. She was returning
from a long tedious walk, among the bluffs, at the close of a Spring
day; her revolvers hid away in the holders, beneath her mantle, when
suddenly, her enemy appeared in her path. Little Wolf stood for a
moment as if spell-bound. Again she heard that horrid guttural laugh
and saw those fiendish black eyes. "I got you now," was all he had
time to say, before a ball from her pistol pierced him. She saw him
fall, and fled. As nothing more was heard from him, or his men, it was
generally supposed that Little Wolf had put an end to his life.
Like one risen from the dead, he appeared to her in his attack upon
Dr. Goodrich and Edward Sherman, at the Pass. She knew he must have
gone there to watch for her, and in saving others, she had also saved
herself.