WHAT CAME OF IT.
No sooner had the chief's yell died away than the whole tribe took it
up; and such a din as that which rung in Frank's ears during the next
few seconds, he had never heard before. The yells did not express
delight, but surprise and indignation; for their youthful champion was
being left behind at the very commencement of the race. Frank took the
lead at the start. The instant the signal was given, he bounded forward
like an arrow from a bow, and was well under way before the Indian had
made a step.
"Whoop!" yelled Dick, his stentorian voice ringing out loud and clear
above the noise made by the excited savages; "if that wasn't well done
may I never draw a bead on an Injun agin." The trapper was following
close at Frank's heels, swinging along with an easy, graceful motion,
and moving over the ground so lightly that he scarcely seemed to touch
it. "Don't be in too big a hurry," said he, as Frank continued to
increase his speed. "Save some of your wind for the finish. Come along,
thar," he added, looking over his shoulder at the young Indian. "If you
can't keep up, come here an' I'll tote you."
The savage, however, was not yet beaten. Quickly recovering from his
surprise, and spurred on by the yells of derision which his friends sent
after him, he exerted himself to the utmost; and before they reached the
end of the course, he had overtaken Frank, and was running side by side
with him; but he could not pass him. Indeed, it was quite as much as he
could do to keep pace with him; while Frank was running well within
himself, with plenty of power held in reserve, and ready, at a word from
the trapper, to put on a fresh burst of speed, and leave his rival far
in the rear. They reached the tree at the end of the course, swung round
it like two flashes of light, and sped along the home stretch with
unabated speed, the Indian beginning to feel the effects of his rapid
run, and Frank apparently as fresh as when he started.
"He aint half the runner I thought he was," said the trapper, to
encourage his young friend. "He's blowing his bellows already. I say,
Injun! I reckon you're a little out of practice, aint you? The next time
you banter a white feller to race with you, you had better pick out a
good hoss to carry you. We haint begun to run yet. Let out just the
least bit, youngster."
Frank "let out" a good deal; and although the Indian made desperate
attempts to keep pace with him, he quickly left him behind, and finally
flew past the place where the chief was standing, the winner by fifty
yards.
"Whoop! Whoop!" shouted Dick, who seemed to be almost beside himself
with delight. "I say, chief! If you've got any young fellers in camp,
who think themselves something great at ridin', jumpin', throwin' the
lasso, an' handlin' the rifle, jest trot 'em out. We've beat you
runnin', an' now that we have got our blood up, we are ready for a'most
any thing."
The issue of the race greatly astonished the Indians. Frank, as he
passed the chief, was welcomed with cheers from the officers of the
fort, the trappers, and from Archie, who hurried up to him, and shook
his hand as though he had not met him for months; while the defeated
runner was greeted with jeers and ridicule. No one, not even Dick,
seemed more delighted than the chief. He approached the place where
Frank was standing, patted him on the back, and looked at him with as
much curiosity and admiration as he would have bestowed upon a steamboat
or a locomotive, had one suddenly made its appearance in the valley.
"Good boy!" said he, approvingly. "Ought to be Injun."
"He had oughter be a trapper," said old Bob. "A boy who can run like
that is wasting his time by living in the States. If you would stay out
here among the mountains fur a few years, Master Frank, you might get to
be the leader of a band of trappers, or the captain of a wagon train."
Frank, flushed with excitement and exercise, turned to look for his
rival. He saw him standing at a little distance from the other members
of the tribe, leaning against a tree, with his arms folded, and a fierce
scowl on his face. His defeat, and the reception he had met with from
his friends, had made him very angry. Now and then some one jeered at
him, but the majority of the tribe took no notice of him whatever. They
seemed to think that an Indian who would allow a white boy to run faster
than he did, was not worth noticing.
"You've give him a big back-set, Frank," said Dick; "an' my advice to
you is to keep your eyes open as long as we stay in the valley. You've
made an enemy of that feller, an' I know, by the squint in his eye, that
he wouldn't think no more of slippin' a ball or arrer into you, than he
would of eatin' a piece of jerked buffaler. You see these Injuns are
mighty wild yet; they haint been whipped enough to make 'em tame. They
seem friendly enough now, but they've no great love fur white folks;
an', if they thought they could do it without bringin' harm to
themselves, they would massacree the last one of us afore they are an
hour older. I don't like the way they act, any how; an', mark what I
say, youngster, we're goin' to have trouble with 'em. Bars an' buffaler!
What's up now?"
The trapper was not long in finding out what was up, and neither was
Frank. The young Indian, smarting under his defeat, and stung by the
ridicule of his friends, had determined to retrieve his lost reputation.
If he could not distance the white boy in a foot-race, he could perhaps
beat him at something else, and so regain some of the laurels that had
been wrested from him. He resolved to try it; and before Frank knew what
was going on, the Indian stepped up behind him, and clasping his sinewy
arms around his body, lifted him from his feet, and attempted to throw
him to the ground. He took Frank by surprise, and caught him in such a
manner that his arms were pinned to his side, thus placing him at great
disadvantage.
"That's a cowardly way of doing business," shouted Archie, indignantly.
"Why don't you give a fellow a fair chance? If he throws you, Frank, get
up and try it again, for this won't be a fair test."
"He aint a goin' to be throwed," said the trapper. "That Injun will have
to eat a heap of dried buffaler meat afore he can get Frank off his
pins. Show him what you can do, youngster."
The young Indian speedily found that he had got his hands full, and that
one hundred and sixty pounds of bone and muscle was an exceedingly
unhandy weight to manage, especially when backed up by such skill and
courage as Frank possessed. The latter positively refused to be thrown.
The Indian, although he exerted himself to the utmost, could not force
him from an upright position, for Frank, like a cat, always fell feet
foremost. The excitement ran high as the young athletes struggled over
the ground. Yells of delight and encouragement from the friends of both
parties arose in deafening chorus, and Indians, officers, and trappers
pushed and elbowed one another to obtain a position from which they
could view the contest, which was decided in Frank's favor much more
easily and quickly than the foot-race. After a few ineffectual attempts,
he succeeded in freeing his arms; and catching the Indian around the
body, broke his hold in an instant, and sent him headlong to the ground.
The ease with which it was done astonished every one who witnessed it,
and had a very chilling effect upon the ardor of the Indian, who jumped
to his feet and stole off toward the village, looking exceedingly
humiliated and crestfallen.
Frank, although he was proud of his victories, as any other boy would
have been under the same circumstances, was almost sorry that he had
allowed himself to be persuaded into contesting the Indian's claims to
superiority. The expression he saw on the face of his rival told him
that he was almost beside himself with fury; and Frank did not relish
the thought that any one, even an Indian, whom he never expected to see
again, should be angry at him for any thing he had done. He would have
been astonished had he known what was to be the result of this morning's
work. He was destined to see and know a great deal more of his rival,
and also of the chief, whose interest in him now seemed to be redoubled;
and this foot-race and wrestling match were the preludes to more than
one exciting and disagreeable event that was to happen before he saw
California again.
"Youngster, I am proud of you," exclaimed Dick, seizing Frank's hand,
and giving it a grip and a shake that made the boy double up like a
jack-knife; "but I say agin, that you had better keep a good lookout as
long as them red skins stay about here. They're mighty onsartin, an'
thar's no knowin' what they may do. Let's go home."
Frank put on his jacket and hat, and followed the trappers toward the
house. He found Captain Porter, Mr. Brent, and Adam impatiently awaiting
his arrival, for they had witnessed the race, and were anxious to know
all about it. Dick, as usual, acted as spokesman; and Frank afterward
said that he had not the least idea how swift a runner he was, or what
an astonishing victory he had won, until he heard the trapper relate the
particulars. If one might judge by what he said, Frank could beat any
mustang in Mr. Brent's stables.
The listeners were all as highly elated as the trapper. Adam shook his
new friend warmly by the hand, and the Captain laughed until he shook
all over like a big bowl of jelly. Frank was once more a hero, and
during the next half hour the race formed the chief topic of
conversation; but even that grew tiresome at last, and the cousins, who
could not remain long inactive, strolled off toward the camp of the
trappers. Shortly afterward they emerged from the grove, mounted on
their horses, and rode toward the mountains.
They had not decided where they were going, or what they would do; but,
as far as the sport they were likely to meet with was concerned, that
made little difference. In that wilderness they could not run amiss of
something to excite and amuse them, let them go in what direction they
would. If they preferred quiet sport, there was plenty of it to be found
in the brook that ran through the valley. No city fishermen, with their
jointed poles and artificial flies, had ever invaded this retired spot;
and having no enemies except an occasional fishhawk, and a few
straggling Indians and trappers to contend with, the trout had
increased and multiplied until the stream fairly swarmed with them. If
they decided to try their rifles, and engage in some more active and
exhilerating sport than fishing, there were the mountains, which
abounded in game of every description. If they felt so inclined they
might, within less than half an hour, make the acquaintance of a panther
or two, or renew their intimacy with the grizzlies. Archie did not deny
that he was afraid of grizzly bears, and, for that reason, he thought it
best to give them and their haunts a wide berth. He picked out a shady
spot on the bank of the brook, and said he would stop there and try his
luck at fishing; while Frank, who had heard that elk were plenty in the
mountains, thought he would ride farther on and see if he could find
one. "I shall not go far," said he, "for not being acquainted with the
country, I might get lost; and I shouldn't like the idea of being
obliged to stay in the mountains all night."
"Nor I either," replied Archie; "and for that reason I am going to stay
here, where I know I am safe. Hold on a minute, and see me catch a
fish."
Archie dismounted from his horse, and after tying the animal to a
neighboring tree, cut from the thicket a long, slender sapling, which,
on being stripped of its branches, promised to answer the purpose for
which it was intended, and to pull out a trout as well as any
twenty-five-dollar rod. Then he produced a fish-line from his pocket,
and in a short time his pole was rigged. The bait was dropped carefully
over the bank, and no sooner had it touched the water than it was seized
by a ravenous trout, which found itself struggling on the ground in a
twinkling.
"He is rather larger than those we used to catch about Lawrence, isn't
he?" said Frank. "Now, if I am fortunate enough to knock over an elk,
we'll have a supper such as people in the cities do not often enjoy."
Archie, intent upon securing his fish before it floundered back into the
water, did not reply; and when he looked up again, his cousin was out of
sight.
Frank urged Roderick into a gallop, and soon had left the valley behind,
and was threading his way through a thickly-wooded ravine that led into
the mountains. Here he became more cautious in his movements, and
allowed his horse to walk leisurely along, while he peered through the
trees on every side of him, in the hope of meeting with one of the
numerous elk which every evening descended from the mountains into the
valley to crop the grass and slake their thirst at the brook. His
chances for a shot at one of these animals would have been greatly
increased if he had left his horse behind; but grizzlies were plenty,
and Frank did not like the idea of encountering one while on foot. On
this particular evening, however, the mountains seemed to be deserted.
Not a living animal of any description did he see, during the hour and a
half that he continued on his course up the ravine; and becoming
discouraged at last, he turned Roderick about and rode toward the
rancho.
"I wish I could see just one squirrel," said Frank, who, like all young
hunters, considered it his duty to empty his gun at something before he
returned home. "What's that?"
A slight movement in the bushes in advance of him attracted his
attention; then a twig snapped behind him, and a yell, so sudden and
appalling that it made Frank's blood run cold, echoed through the
ravine; and before he could look about him to see what was the matter,
he was pulled from his saddle and thrown to the ground. In a twinkling
his rifle was torn from his grasp, his hands bound behind his back, and
he was helped to his feet to find himself surrounded by a party of
Indians in war costume.