ARCHIE FINDS A NEW UNCLE.
For an hour and a half after Frank left him, Archie walked up and down
the banks of the brook, pulling out trout of a size and weight that
astonished him. When nearly two hundred splendid fish had been placed
upon his string, he put his line into his pocket, leaned his pole
against a tree where he knew he could find it again if he should happen
to want it, mounted his horse, and rode slowly toward the rancho,
keeping a good lookout on every side for his cousin, and wondering what
had become of him. It was getting late. The sun had sunk below the
western mountains, the shadows of twilight were creeping through the
valley, and Archie began to fear that Frank was in a fair way to pass
the night among the grizzlies. He did not find him at the rancho; Adam
had not seen him, and neither had Dick, who, upon finding that Archie
had returned alone, pulled off his sombrero, and scratched his head
furiously, as he always did when any thing troubled him.
"Where's the boy that fit that ar Greaser?" he asked, with some anxiety
in his tone.
"I am sure I don't know," was the reply. "He went into the mountains to
hunt up an elk for supper, and I haven't seen him since."
"The keerless feller!" exclaimed the trapper.
"He'll have to camp out all night if he doesn't come back pretty soon,"
continued Archie. "Won't he have a glorious time among the bears and
panthers? I wish I had gone with him, for I know he will be lonesome."
"You can thank your lucky stars that you stayed at home. Thar's a heap
wusser things in the world than grizzlies an' painters."
The tone in which these words were spoken made Archie uneasy; and when
Dick drew old Bob and the Captain off on one side, and held a whispered
consultation with them, he began to be really alarmed. He had never seen
the trapper act so strangely. Heretofore, when Frank had got into
trouble, Dick had always said: "I jest know he'll come out all right;"
but he did not say so now. Archie could see that there was something in
the wind that he did not understand.
While the Captain and his men were conversing, a trapper galloped up to
the porch, and hurriedly ascending the steps, communicated in a whisper
what was plainly a very exciting piece of news, for an expression of
anxiety overspread the Captain's face, old Bob thumped the floor
energetically with the butt of his rifle, and Dick once more pulled off
his sombrero and dug his fingers into his hair. Almost at the same
moment a second horseman approached from another direction, and he had
something to tell that increased the excitement. The Captain listened
attentively to his story, and then gave a few orders in a low tone to
Dick and Bob, who shouldered their rifles, sprang down the steps, and
stole off into the darkness like two specters. They had not made many
steps before Archie was at their heels.
"Now, then, you keerless feller, jest trot right back to the house
agin," said Dick.
"If you are going out to look for Frank I want to go too," replied
Archie. "I can keep up with you."
"Go back," repeated the trapper; "you'll only be in the way. Thar's
goin' to be queer doin's in this yere valley, an' you'll see enough to
make you glad to stay in the house."
"What's up here, any how?" asked Archie, as he mounted the steps that
led to the porch where Adam Brent was waiting for him.
"Indians," was the reply.
"Indians!" repeated Archie, who now thought he understood what the
trapper meant when he said that there were things in the world more to
be dreaded than bears and panthers. "You surely don't expect trouble
with them?"
"That's what they say," replied Adam, coolly. "I heard Captain Porter
tell father that they would be down on us, like a hawk on a Junebug,
before we see the sun rise again."
"Well, I--I--_Eh!_" stammered Archie, almost paralyzed by the
information.
"Oh, it's the truth. In the first place, they changed their camp very
suddenly this afternoon, and without any cause; and since then they
haven't showed themselves in the valley. That's a bad sign. When you
know there are Indians about you, and you can't see them, look out for
them, for they mean mischief. But when they are all around you, and you
have to watch them closely to keep them from stealing every thing you've
got, there's nothing to fear. In the next place, one of Captain Porter's
trappers, who was out hunting this afternoon, said that he crossed the
trail of a war party, numbering at least five hundred men. Another
trapper brought the information that there is a large camp of Indians
about ten miles back in the mountains, and that the braves are all in
war-paint. Father says it is plain enough to him that they have
determined upon a general massacre of all the settlers in the country.
There'll be fun in this valley before morning, and you'll hear sounds
and see sights you never dreamed of."
Archie was astounded--not only at the news he had heard, but also at the
free and easy manner in which it was communicated. He was trembling in
every limb with suppressed excitement and alarm; and here was this new
friend of his standing with his hands in his pockets, and talking about
a fight with the Indians--which would be delayed but a few hours at the
most--with as much apparent indifference and unconcern as if it had been
some holiday pastime. But then Adam was accustomed to such things. The
house in which he lived has been used as a fort in days gone by, and
when trouble was expected with the savages, the settlers, for miles
around, would flock into it for protection. It had withstood more than
one siege, and Adam, before he was strong enough to lift a rifle to his
shoulder, had heard the war-whoop echoing through the valley, and had
molded bullets and cut patching for the men who were standing at his
father's side, defending the house against the assaults of the savages.
Archie could have told of things that would have made Adam's hair stand
on end. He had ridden in the cars and on steamboats; and he had held the
helm of the Speedwell in many a race around Strawberry island, when the
white caps were running, and the wind blowing half a gale. Adam, in
these situations, would have been as badly frightened as Archie was now.
While the latter was thinking over what he had heard, and wishing that
his friend could impart to him some of his indifference and courage, Mr.
Brent, who, with his men, had been engaged in collecting the valuables
in the house, and loading them into a wagon for transportation to the
fort, approached, and said to his son:
"Adam, get your rifle and ammunition, and go down to the fort and stay
there until I come. Archie, you had better go with him."
Archie thought this good advice. If the Indians had really determined on
making a descent into the valley--and he knew that Mr. Brent had had too
much experience to be deceived in such matters--the sooner he found a
place of safety the better it would be for him. He had been considerably
disappointed because he had not been allowed an opportunity to assist
the settlers in their fight with Don Carlos and his men, but he had
never expressed a desire to take part in a battle with the Indians. He
trembled at the thought; and he was almost afraid to ride through the
grove with Adam. He held his rifle in readiness for instant use, and so
nervous and excited was he, that it might have been dangerous for even a
friendly trapper to approach him unexpectedly. He and Adam reached the
fort, however, without encountering any of their enemies; and then
Archie drew a long breath of relief, and began to feel more like
himself.
Every one of the hundred soldiers comprising the garrison was hard at
work; and so were the trappers. Some were engaged in repairing the
palisades, some were covering the roofs of the buildings with earth, to
prevent the savages from setting them on fire with lighted arrows,
others were cleaning and loading the weapons, and every thing was done
without the least noise or confusion. Not a word was spoken above a
whisper; the men moved about with cautious footsteps, and a person
standing at a distance of fifty yards from the fort, could not have told
that there was any one stirring within its walls. One thing that
surprised Archie was, that among all these men, who had fought the
Indians more than once, and who knew just what their fate would be if
the fort proved too weak to resist the attacks of their savage foes,
there was not one who seemed to be in the least concerned. There were
some pale faces among them--pale with excitement rather than fear--but
their manner was quiet and confident, and Archie began to gather
courage.
His first care was to look up a place of safety for his horse. The
garrison being composed entirely of cavalrymen, there was plenty of
stable room in the fort, and Archie soon found an empty stall, in which
he tied the mustang; and after strapping his revolvers around his waist,
and filling his pockets with cartridges for his rifle, he went out to
look about the fortifications. He found Adam in the soldiers' quarters,
sitting beside a fire, and engaged in running bullets. He kept him
company for a while, but he was too uneasy and excited to remain long in
one place, and finally he went out again, and resumed his wanderings
about the fort. He watched the soldiers at their work, looked at the
loop-holes, and tried to imagine how he should feel standing at one of
them when the bullets and arrows were whistling about his ears, and the
fort was surrounded by hundreds of yelling Indians thirsting for his
blood, and at last he found his way out of the gate to the prairie where
Frank had run the foot-race a few hours before. How lonesome the place
seemed now, and what an unearthly silence brooded over it! Archie felt
his courage giving away again, and aroused himself with an effort.
"I am getting to be a regular coward," said he, to himself. "If Frank
were here he would be ashamed of me. I'd like to know where he is, and
what he is doing. I hope he has made his camp where the Indians will not
stumble upon it. There's the Captain going back to the house. If it is
safe there for him, I guess it is safe for me, too."
Archie shouldered his rifle, and hurried off in the direction the
Captain had gone. He passed through the grove in safety, and when he
reached the house he found that Mr. Brent and his men were still engaged
in collecting all the movable property, and hauling it to the fort. The
former knew that all his stock, barns, and crops would be destroyed, and
it was his desire to save as much of his household furniture as
possible.
Archie leaned his rifle in one corner, and worked with the rest until
the wagon was loaded, and then sat down on the porch to await its return
from the fort. He wished he had gone with it before many minutes had
passed over his head, for scarcely had the wagon disappeared when he
heard a stealthy step behind him, and, upon looking up, he saw three
trappers standing close at his elbow. Although he was startled by their
sudden appearance, he was not alarmed, for he thought that he recognized
them as some of the men belonging to Captain Porter's expedition; but a
second glance showed him that they were strangers. He sprang to his
feet, and, boldly confronting the men, waited for them to make known
their business. They looked at him closely for a moment, and then one of
them said to his companions:
"That's him, aint it?"
"I reckon it is," replied another. "Now, my cub, no screechin' or
fussin'. If you make the least noise, you're a goner."
Archie did not hear all this warning, for, while the trapper was
speaking, he had seized the boy in an iron grasp, and pressed a brawny
hand over his mouth to stifle his cries for help; another tore his
revolvers from his waist; the third caught up his feet and held them
firmly under his arm; and, before Archie could fairly make up his mind
what was going on, he was being carried rapidly across the valley toward
the mountains. Astonished and enraged, he struggled furiously for a
time, but all to no purpose; he was held as firmly as if he had been in
a vice; and, exhausted at last by his efforts, he lay quietly in the
grasp of his captors, wondering at this new adventure, and trying in
vain to find some explanation for it. He was not kept long in ignorance,
however, for in a few minutes the trappers had carried him across the
valley, through the willows that skirted the base of the mountains, and
into a deep, thickly-wooded ravine, and set him down in front of a
camp-fire, before which stood a tall, fierce-looking man leaning on his
rifle.
Archie was so bewildered that, for a minute or two, he could not have
told whether he was awake or dreaming. He swallowed a few times to
overcome the effect of the choking he had received, rubbed his eyes, and
looked about him; and all the while the tall trapper stood regarding
him, with a savage smile on his face, while his three companions seated
themselves beside the fire, and coolly proceeded to fill their pipes.
"It's him, aint it, Bill?" asked one, at length.
"Yes," replied the person addressed, still looking fixedly at his
prisoner, and evidently enjoying his bewilderment, "it's him. Seems to
me you might have a good word to say to your uncle, seein' it's so long
since we've met one another."
"My uncle!" exclaimed Archie, now for the first time recovering the use
of his tongue.
"Sartin. You aint agoin' to deny it? You aint agoin' back on me, are
you? I've been through a heap since I seed you last--I've been chawed
up by bars an' catamounts, an' been shot at by Injuns an' white fellers,
an' mebbe I've changed a leetle. I never did brag much on my good looks,
but I'm your uncle, fur all that."
"You!" almost shouted Archie, gazing in amazement at the trapper's dark,
scarred face; "you my uncle! Not if I know who I am, and I think I do.
Do you take me for a lunatic, or are you crazy yourself?"
"Nary one, I reckon. I take you fur my nephew--Adam Brent--an' I know
what I'm sayin'."
"Well, if Adam has such a looking uncle as you are, I am sorry for him.
You've made a great mistake. My name is Winters, if it will do you any
good to know it."
"No, I reckon not," replied the trapper, who seemed to be greatly
pleased at his prisoner's pluck and independence. "I reckon you're Adam
Brent."
"I guess I ought to know what my name is, hadn't I?" exclaimed Archie,
angrily. "Who are you, anyhow, and what business have you to take me
away from my friends?"
"I'm your uncle--Bill Brent--Black Bill fur short; an' as fur the
business I have in takin' you prisoner, it's the business every man's
got to right the wrongs that's been done him. That's what's the matter."
Archie very deliberately seated himself upon the ground, rested his chin
on his hands, and looked up at the outlaw. "I know you now," said he,
"and I have no desire for a more intimate acquaintance. Do you remember
that, one night, in the latter part of June, a fellow about my age
walked into your camp, and you and your cowardly companions robbed him
of his horse?"
"I'll allow I haint forgot it," replied the outlaw.
"Well, that fellow was my cousin. He and I were on our way to
California, with Dick Lewis and Bob Kelly, and an uncle, who looks about
as much like you as you look like a white man. You've got the wrong buck
by the horn, if you take me for Adam Brent. He is at the fort, and among
friends, where he is safe. I left him there not more than an hour ago."
"Now jest look a-here, Adam," said Black Bill; "that story won't go
down--not by no means. If I hadn't never seed you afore, it might do you
some good to talk to me in that fashion; but I know you as well as I
know any of my mates here. I've got you now, an' I'm goin' to hold fast
to you."
"But what do you intend to do with me?" asked Archie.
"I'm goin' to do jest what I told your father I should do when I got my
hands on you: I'm goin' to make you jest sich a man as I am."
"You'll have a good time of it, and you can't do it. It is my intention
to be of some use in the world, and I'd like to see you or any body else
drag me down as low as you are. But I tell you that I am not Adam Brent,
and neither am I any relative of his."
"Hold your hosses. I know jest what I am about, an' all your talkin' an'
fussin' won't do you no 'arthly good whatsomever; so you might jest as
well shut up. I'm goin' to make a renegade of you. Arter you have been
with me a few years, you'll larn to hate white folks as bad as I do, an'
will fight 'em like any Injun, I told your father that I would make him
sorry for all he's done agin me, an' I'm goin' to keep my word. Jack,
jest tie his hands behind his back, an' then we'll trot along. I've
spent the most of my time, durin' the last ten years, hangin' around
this yere valley, watchin' fur a chance to get hold of you," continued
the outlaw, while his companion was confining Archie's arms with a thong
of buckskin, "but the ole man tuk mighty good care to keep you out of my
sight. The fust time I sot eyes on you, since you was six years old, was
to-day, at the fort, when them fellers run that race; but I knowed you
in a minute. I've got you now, an' the next time your father sees you,
you will be like me--half Injun an' half trapper, an' an enemy of your
own race."
Archie had learned something during this interview with the outlaw, and
now thought he could understand why Mr. Brent had been so careful never
to allow Adam far out of his sight. In years gone by--perhaps when they
were young men together--he had done something to incur the displeasure
of this unnatural brother, who had resolved to be revenged upon him by
dragging his son down as low as he was himself. But the outlaw's plans
were not working as smoothly as he imagined. He had made a mistake in
the boy; and Adam, of whom he had been trying to make a prisoner for ten
years, was still safe under the protection of his father.
"He is barking up the wrong tree, if he only knew it," said Archie to
himself; "but I don't think I shall trouble myself to tell him so again.
The way he eyed me the last time I told him I wasn't Adam Brent, makes
me think that it wouldn't take a great deal to induce him to use his
bowie on me; and that would be disagreeable. Never mind; I am not afraid
that I shall long remain a prisoner, while Dick and Bob are alive."
When Archie's arms had been securely bound, two of the outlaws started
down the ravine in Indian file, and the others, one of whom was Black
Bill, seized their captive by the shoulders, and assisted him over logs
and through the bushes in a way that would have called forth from him a
stubborn resistance, if his arms had been free. The trappers seemed to
be in great haste; and whenever Archie stumbled in the darkness and
pitched forward, they did not stop, but hurried on as fast as ever,
leaving him to regain his feet if he could, or be dragged along the
ground behind them. He wondered if this was a fair sample of the
treatment he was to receive as long as he remained in the hands of the
outlaws. It did not seem to him that he could endure it long, but he did
endure it until ten miles had been accomplished, and then, to his
intense amazement and alarm, he suddenly found himself on the outskirts
of an Indian village. His captors kept straight ahead with him, until
they arrived at the council ground, and there they left him to take care
of himself, and went forward to join the circle of chiefs seated around
the fire.