Morning at last, and from their hiding-place the fugitives could see
that the Indians were in great numbers, and whilst some were with their
horses, others were gathered together in a crowd about the post-like
tree-trunk half-way between the gate of the mountains, as Bart called
it, and the camp.
The greatest caution was needed to keep themselves from the keen sight
of the Indians, who had apparently seen nothing of the horses' trail;
and as far as Bart could tell, Joses was so far safe. Still it was like
this:--If the Indians should begin to examine the face of the rock, they
must find both entries, and then it was a question of brave defence,
though it seemed impossible but that numbers must gain the mastery in
the end.
"Poor Joses!" thought Bart, and the tears rose to his eyes. "I'd give
anything to be by his side, to fight with him and defend the horses."
Then he began to wonder how many charges of powder he would have, and
how long he could hold out.
"A good many will fall before they do master him," thought Bart, "if
he's not captured already. I wonder whether they have hurt Juan and
Sam."
Just then the crowd about the post fell back, and the Doctor put his
glass to his eye, and then uttered a cry of horror.
He glanced round directly to see if Maude had heard him, but she, poor
girl, had fallen fast asleep in the niche where they had placed her, to
be out of reach of bullets should firing begin.
"What is it, sir?" cried Bart. "Ah, I see. How horrible! The
wretches! May I begin to shoot?"
"You could do no good, and so would only bring the foe down upon my
child," said the Doctor sternly.
"But it is Juan, is it not?" cried Bart, excitedly.
"Yes," said the Doctor, using the glass, "and Sam. They have stripped
the poor fellows almost entirely, and painted Death's heads and
cross-bones upon their hearts."
"Oh yes," cried Bart, in agony, "I can see;" and he looked with horror
upon the scene, for there, evidently already half dead, their breasts
scored with knives, and their ankles bound, Juan and Sam were suspended
by means of a lariat, bound tightly to their wrists, and securely
twisted round the upper part of the old blasted tree. The poor fellows'
hats and a portion of their clothes lay close by them, and as they hung
there, inert and helpless, Bart, and his companion saw the cruel,
vindictive Indians draw off to a short distance, and joining up into a
close body, they began to fire at their prisoners, treating them as
marks on which to try their skill with the rifle.
The sensation of horror this scene caused was indescribable, and Bart
turned to the Doctor with a look of agony in his eyes.
"Quick!" he said; "let us run out and save them. Oh, what monsters!
They cannot be men."
The Indian who acted as interpreter spoke rapidly to the chief, who
replied, and then the Indian turned to the Doctor and Bart.
"The Beaver-with-Sharp-Teeth says if we want to go out to fight, they
are so many we should all be killed. We must not go."
"He is right, Bart," said the Doctor, hoarsely. "I am willing enough to
fight, but the presence of Maude seems to unman me. I dare not attempt
anything that would risk her life."
"But it is so horrible," cried Bart, peering out of his hiding-place
excitedly, but only to feel the Beaver's hand upon his shoulder, forcing
him down into his old niche.
"Indian dog see," whispered the Beaver, who was rapidly picking up
English words and joining them together.
The sharp report of rifle after rifle was heard now, and after every
shot there was a guttural yell of satisfaction.
"They will kill them, sir," panted Bart, who seemed as if he could
hardly bear to listen to what was going on.
"They must have been dead, poor fellows, when they were hung up there,
Bart. I would that we dared attack the monsters."
"Can you see any sign of Joses, sir?" asked Bart.
"No, my boy; no sign of him, poor fellow! Heaven grant that he be not
seen."
All this time the Indians were rapidly loading and firing at the two
unfortunate men, and, to Bart's horror, he could hear bullet after
bullet strike them, the others hitting the rocky face of the mountain
with a sharp pat, and in the interval of silence that followed those in
hiding could hear some of the bullets afterwards fall.
Every time the savages thought they had hit their white prisoners they
uttered a yell of triumph, and Dr Lascelles knew that this terrible
scene was only the prologue to one of a far more hideous nature, when,
with a fiendish cruelty peculiar to their nature, they would fall upon
their victims with their knives, to flay off their scalps and beards,
leaving the terribly mutilated bodies to the birds and beasts of the
plains.
"I could hit several of them, I'm sure," panted Bart, eagerly. "Pray,
sir, let's fire upon them, and kill some of the wretches. I never felt
like this before, but now it seems as if I must do something to punish
those horrible fiends."
"We could all fire and bring down some of them, Bart," whispered the
Doctor; "but there are fully a hundred there, my boy, and we must be the
losers in the end. They would never leave till they had killed us every
one."
Bart hung his head, and stood there resting upon his rifle, wishing that
his ears could be deaf to the hideous yelling and firing that kept going
on, as the Indians went on with their puerile sport of wreaking their
empty vengeance upon the bodies of the two men whom they had slain.
Twenty times over the Doctor raised his rifle, and as often let it fall,
as he knew what the consequences of his firing would be, while, when
encouraged by this act on the part of his elder, Bart did likewise, it
was for the Beaver to press the barrel down with his brown hand, shaking
his head and smiling gravely the while.
"The Beaver-with-Sharp-Teeth," said the interpreter, "says that the
young chief must wait till the Indian dogs are not so many; then he
shall kill all he will, and take all their scalps."
"Ugh!" shuddered Bart, "as if I wanted to take scalps! I could feel
pleased though if they killed and took the scalps of all these wretches.
No, I don't want that," he muttered, "but it is very horrible, and it
nearly drives me mad to see the cruel monsters shooting at our two poor
men. How they can--"
"Good heavens!" ejaculated the Doctor; "what's that?"
They were all gazing intently at the great post where the firing was
going on, and beyond it at the group of Indians calmly loading and
firing, with a soft film of smoke floating away above their heads, when
all at once, just in their midst, there was a vivid flash of light, and
the air seemed to be full of blocks of stone, which were driven up with
a dense cloud of smoke. Then there was a deafening report, which echoed
back from the side of the mountain; a trembling of the ground, as if
there had been an earthquake; the great pieces of stone fell here and
there; and then, as the smoke spread, a few Indians could be seen
rushing hard towards where their companions were gathered with their
horses, while about the spot where the earth had seemed to vomit forth
flame, rocks and stones were piled-up in hideous confusion, mingled with
quite a score of the bodies of Indians.
There was no hesitation on the part of the survivors. The Great Spirit
had spoken to them in his displeasure, and those who had not been
smitten seized their horses, those which had no riders now kept with
them, and the whole band went off over the plain at full speed; while no
sooner were they well away upon the plain, than the Beaver and his party
laid their rifles aside, and dashed out, knife and hatchet in hand,
killing two or three injured men before the Doctor could interfere, as
he and Bart ran out, followed by Harry.
It was a hideous sight, and perhaps it was a merciful act the killing of
the wretches by the Beaver and his men, for they were horribly injured
by the explosion, while others had arms and legs blown off. Some were
crushed by the falling stones, others had been killed outright at first;
and as soon as he had seen but a portion of the horrors, the Doctor sent
Bart back to bid Maude be in no wise alarmed, for the enemy were gone,
but she must not leave the place where she was hiding for a while.
Bart found her looking white and trembling with dread, but a few words
satisfied her, and the lad ran back, to pass the horrible mass of
piled-up stones and human beings with a shudder, as he ran on and joined
the Doctor and Joses, who was standing outside his hiding-place,
perfectly unharmed, and leaning upon his rifle.
Bart was about to burst forth into a long string of congratulations, but
somehow they all failed upon his lips. He tried to speak, but he choked
and found it impossible. All he could do for a few moments was to catch
the great rough hands of Joses in his, and stand shaking them with all
his might.
Joses did not reply; he only looked a little less grim than usual as he
returned Bart's grip with interest.
"Why, you thought the Injun had got me, did you, Master Bart? You
thought the Injun had got me. Well, they hadn't this time, you see, but
I 'spected they'd find me out every moment. I meant to fight it out
though till all my powder was gone, and then I meant to back the horses
at the Injun, and make them kick as long as I could, for of course you
wouldn't have been able to come."
"I am glad you are safe, Joses," cried Bart, at last. "It is almost
like a miracle that they didn't find you, and that the explosion took
place. It must have been our keg of powder, Joses, that you hid under
the stones."
"Think so, Master Bart?" said Joses, as if deeply astonished.
"Yes," cried Bart, "it must have been that."
"Yes," said the Doctor. "The wretches must have dropped a burning wad,
or something of that kind."
"But it was very horrible," cried Bart.
"Yes, horrible," assented the Doctor.
"But it saved all us as was left, Master," said Joses, gruffly. "They'd
have found us out else, and served us the same as they did poor old Sam
and old Juan. What beasts Injun is."
"Yes, it saved our lives, Joses, and it was as it were a miracle. But
there, don't let's talk about it. We must take steps to bury those poor
creatures, and that before my child comes out. Do you think the enemy
will come back?" he continued, turning to the interpreter.
"The Beaver-with-Sharp-Teeth says no: not for days," was the reply; and,
willingly enough, the Indians helped their white friends to enlarge the
hole ploughed out by the explosion of the powder keg, which was easily
done by picking out a few pieces of rock, when there was ample room for
the dead, who, after some hour or two's toil, were buried beneath the
stones.
The remains of the two poor fellows, Juan and Sam, were buried more
carefully, with a few simple rites, and then, saddened and weary, the
Doctor turned to seek Maude.
Bart was about to follow him, when Joses took him by the sleeve.
"I wouldn't say anything to the master, but I must tell you."
"Tell me what?"
"About the explosion, Master Bart."
"Well, I saw it," said Bart.
"Yes, but you didn't see how it happened."
"I thought we had decided that."
"Well, you thought so, but you wasn't right, and I didn't care to brag
about it; but I did it, Master Bart."
"You fired that powder, and blew all those poor wretches to eternity!"
cried Bart, in horror.
"Now don't you get a looking like that, Master Bart. Why, of course I
did it. Where's the harm? They killed my two poor fellows, and they'd
have killed all of us, and set us up to shoot at if they'd had the
chance."
"Well, Joses, I suppose you are right," said Bart, "but it seems very
horrible."
"Deal more horrible if they'd killed Miss Maude."
"Oh, hush! Joses," cried Bart excitedly, "Tell me, though, how did you
manage it."
"Well, you see, Master Bart, it was like this. I stood looking on at
their devilry till I felt as if I couldn't bear it no longer, and then
all at once I recollected the powder, and I thought that if I could put
a bullet through the keg it would blow it up, and them too."
"And did you, Joses?"
"Well, I did, Master Bart, but it took me a long while for it. I knew
exactly where it was, but I couldn't see it for the crowd of fellows
round, and I daren't shoot unless I was sure, or else I should have
brought them on to me like a shot."
"Of course, of course, Joses," cried Bart, who was deeply interested.
"Well, Master Bart, I had to wait till I thought I should never get a
chance, and then they opened right out, and I could see the exact spot
where to send my bullet, when I trembled so that I daren't pull trigger,
and when I could they all crowded up again."
"But they gave you another chance, Joses?" cried Bart excitedly.
"To be sure they did, my lad, at last, and that time it was only after a
deal of dodging about that there was any chance, and, laying my rifle on
the rock, I drew trigger, saw the stones, flash as the bullet struck,
just, too, when they were all cheering, the beasts, at what they'd done
to those two poor fellows."
"And then there was the awful flash and roar, Joses?"
"Yes, Master Bart, and the Injuns never knew what was the matter, and
that's all."
"All, Joses?"
"Yes, Master Bart, and wasn't it enough? But you'd better not tell the
master; he might say he didn't object to an Injun or two killed in
self-defence, but that this was wholesale."
Bart promised to keep the matter a secret, and he went about for the
rest of the day pondering upon the skill of Joses with the rifle, and
what confidence he must have had in his power to hit the keg hidden
under the stones to run such a risk, for, as he said, a miss would have
brought down the Indians upon him, and so Bart said once more.
"Yes, Master Bart; but then, you see, I didn't miss, and we've got rid
of some of the enemy and scared the rest away."