DICK IN A NEW CHARACTER.
Let us now return to Archie, whom we left in Black Bill's wigwam. He was
very much disheartened at the result of his cousin's bold attempt to
release him, but knowing that it was useless to repine, or to attempt
resistance, he submitted to his fate with all the fortitude he could
command, and allowed the outlaw to bind him hand and foot.
"You said I couldn't keep you pris'ner, didn't you?" said Black Bill,
fiercely; "now I'm goin' to show you. If you can break that buckskin,
you're a hoss."
"I don't see what you want with me, anyhow," returned Archie. "I am not
Adam Brent, and, more than that, I never saw or heard of him until three
days ago."
"Keep your breath to cool your porridge," said the outlaw, as he
stretched himself on a pile of skins near his prisoner, "'cause it aint
no 'arthly use to waste it in talkin' to me. I'm too ole a 'coon to let
a boy like you pull the wool over my eyes. Don't I know that nose of
your'n, an' that har, an' that black face? I could pick you out among a
million. Now, I am goin' to sleep, an' you had better do the same."
This command was uttered in a very savage tone of voice, and Archie,
knowing that it would be the height of folly to enrage the outlaw by
disregarding his wishes, turned over on his bed to find an easy
position, and held his peace; but sleep for him was quite out of the
question. Black Bill slept, however, and snored lustily for half an
hour; and then he suddenly awoke and started up with an ejaculation of
wonder. Almost at the same instant a yell rang out on the air, followed
by the report of a rifle, which brought the outlaw to his feet in great
haste.
"What's the matter out there?" asked Archie, who speedily became aware
that there was something unusual going on in the camp.
"We're attacked!" exclaimed Black Bill, in great excitement. "Them
fellers at the fort are either mighty reckless, or else they've got help
from somewhere. They're pitchin' into us, that's sartin."
As the outlaw spoke, the report of a volley of fire-arms rang through
the ravine, followed by yells, and the hurrying of feet outside the
lodge. Black Bill tore open the door, and looking out, began a rapid
conversation with some one. It proved to be the Black Fox, who came in,
and hastily untying Archie's feet, grasped him by the collar, and
hurried him out of the lodge. Black Bill caught him up in his arms as he
came out, and placed him upon the back of a mustang, which was standing
in front of the door; after which the young Indian seized the bridle,
and led the animal off at a rapid trot.
As soon as Archie had time to look about him, he found that the outlaw
had not been mistaken in his conjectures. The confusion in the camp was
increasing every moment. The reports of the rifles rang out louder and
clearer, showing that the attacking party was gaining ground rapidly;
men, women, and children, surprised and terrified by the suddenness of
the assault, ran through the village in all directions, some with packs
on their backs containing their household goods, others empty-handed,
and too intent on making good their escape to think of any thing else,
and all hurrying at the best of their speed toward the mountains. The
flames were already ascending from the lower end of the village, and by
the light which they gave out, Archie discovered that the attacking
party was composed of trappers, and that they were coming directly
toward him, sweeping every thing before them. The hope that they would
see and recognize him was short-lived; for the Black Fox plunged at once
into the midst of the flying crowd, and a very few minutes sufficed for
him to conduct his prisoner into the woods.
The fight at the village, if such it could be called, was over almost as
soon as it began. The trappers, whose only desire was to release Dick
Lewis, passed rapidly through the camp, looking in vain for the object
of their search, and then turned and retreated toward the fort, thus
extinguishing the last spark of hope which their appearance had raised
in the breast of the prisoner. Scarcely had their shouts died away in
the distance, when a chorus of yells arose in another direction; and the
retreating Indians, one and all, faced about, and hurried back to the
camp. Those yells produced a great change in them, for their terror gave
away instantly to the wildest delight, which they expressed in all
possible ways. The Black Fox, who still held fast to the horse on which
Archie was mounted, shouted until he was too hoarse to speak plainly,
and then triumphantly announced:
"More Indian coming. Burn fort now, sure."
When Archie arrived within sight of the camp, his heart stood still, and
he trembled for the safety of his friends at the trading-post. A cloud
of braves in war-costume--five hundred of them at least--was moving
through the burning village in the direction the trappers had gone--the
horses running at the top of their speed, and their riders swinging
their weapons around their heads, and yelling like madmen. These were
the reinforcements the chief had been expecting; and now that they had
arrived, Archie knew that the attack on the fort would not be long
delayed. It was commenced that very hour; and when it was over, some one
brought him tidings of the result.
When the reinforcements had passed out of sight, the Indians who had
fled before the trappers ran into the village, and busied themselves in
pulling down the wigwams to stay the progress of the flames. This was a
matter in which the Black Fox was not interested. He had no property to
save, but he had a prisoner to watch, and to this duty he gave his whole
attention. Stopping in the edge of the woods, he tied the mustang to a
tree, and seizing Archie by the shoulders, pulled him rather roughly to
the ground; after which he spread his blanket on the leaves, and settled
into a comfortable position to observe what was going on in the village.
He was very talkative, and entertained his captive with a glowing
description of the manner in which the Indians would overcome the
garrison, and the way they would dispose of their prisoners; but
finding that Archie was in no humor to listen to him, he finally
relapsed into silence.
At the end of two hours--two long, dreary hours they were, during which
Archie was a prey to the most gloomy thoughts--he was aroused from a
reverie into which he had fallen, by the movements of the Black Fox, who
jumped to his feet, and gazed earnestly toward a group of warriors who
had just emerged from the ravine. Archie thought they acted very
strangely. Some of them walked with feeble, tottering steps, as if they
scarcely possessed the strength to retain an upright position, while
others reeled about like drunken men. He looked toward the young Indian
for an explanation.
"Much hurt," said the latter; then, fearing that his prisoner might not
understand him, he struck himself on various parts of his body with his
hand, raised his bow to his shoulder as if it had been a gun, and
imitated the motions a person would make in using a saber. From this
Archie knew that the warriors had been wounded, and that they had
received their injuries during the battle at the fort. This was enough
to put him into a fever of suspense. He wanted to know if the Indians
had been successful, and he wished some of the braves would tell him;
but they did not seem disposed to do any thing of the kind. They did not
even notice their friends, but threw themselves upon the ground, and
wrapping their blankets around their heads, suffered in silence.
"Which side whipped?" asked Archie, at length.
"Indian," replied the Black Fox.
"How do you know?"
"O, Indian always whip white man."
"No, Indian doesn't. He gets thrashed sometimes, and badly, too. He
couldn't whip the trappers who set fire to that camp, a little while
ago."
The young savage did not appear to be in a mood to discuss the matter,
and Archie, with his feelings worked up to the highest pitch of
excitement, twisted about uneasily, and waited to see if there were any
prisoners brought in. The wounded Indians, in the meantime came in
rapidly, and in a few minutes there were so many disabled warriors lying
about him, that Archie began to believe that the fight had resulted in a
decided victory for the defenders of the fort. Among the wounded savages
was one who attracted Archie's attention; and if he had been a white
man, or even a friendly Indian, he would have felt the keenest sympathy
for his distress. He was a tall, broad-shouldered, powerful-looking
fellow, badly injured, if one might judge by the looks of his face, and
the pain occasioned by his wounds seemed to be so intense that he could
neither sit, lie, nor stand still, even for a moment. He would seat
himself on the ground, and rock back and forth for awhile, then stretch
out at full length, and thrash about uneasily, and finally spring to his
feet, and look around for another resting-place. At length he walked
rapidly toward the Black Fox, who, thinking that it might not be quite
safe to trust himself within reach of a man driven nearly frantic with
pain, jumped up, and retreated a few steps. This seemed to be just what
the wounded man wanted; for he took possession of the young Indian's
blanket, and, wrapping it around his head, lay down upon the ground.
If the owner of the blanket was angry, he did not show it. He stood
looking at the warrior a moment, and then an idea occurred to him which
he announced to Archie in his broken English. There was no danger that
the latter would escape while the Indians were all around him, he said,
and he would go to the village and make some inquiries concerning the
fight. It might be well for Archie to keep perfectly quiet during his
absence, he added, for there was the wounded Indian, who was in just the
right mood to hurt somebody.
"Don't be uneasy," replied Archie. "Go and get some information about
that fight, and hurry back; for I want to know which whipped. I'll wager
my rifle against your bow and arrows that you Indians were completely
cleaned out."
When the young warrior had disappeared, Archie, not knowing what else to
do with himself, lay down on the ground to await his return, looking
over his shoulder occasionally at the wounded Indian, who began to kick
about worse than ever.
"It serves you just right," said the prisoner. "What had those people at
the fort done to you, that you wanted to kill them? Perhaps you will
learn to let peaceable white settlers alone in future."
"I don't reckon I ever done any harm to peaceable white fellers," said a
familiar voice, from under the blanket. "Lay down, you keerless feller!"
it added quickly, as Archie started up in amazement; "lay down, or
you'll spile every thing."
Archie, for a moment too astonished to speak, fell back upon the ground
again, and, as he did so, he felt the cold blade of a hunting-knife
pressed against his hands. The thongs of buckskin with which he was
confined gave away, one after the other, under its keen edge, and in a
few seconds he was free.
"Dick, is that really you?" he whispered, as soon as he had recovered
the use of his tongue.
"I don't reckon it's any body else."
"How did you get so badly hurt?"
"Hurt!" repeated the trapper; "I aint no more hurt nor you be. This aint
the fust time you've been fooled to-night, is it? I've been through a
heap since I seed the sun set, but I can out-run and out-fight the best
Injun in this tribe yet. I haint got no time to waste in talkin',
howsomever. We're licked, the tradin'-post is burned up, an' the only
thing we can do is to make tracks for Fort Benton. Creep into them
bushes, an' keep in 'em till you get around to the other side of the
camp; then strike off through the mountains, an' go straight south. The
moon is up now, an' you can tell the pints of the compass from that.
Arter you have gone about two miles from the camp, you will strike the
ole wagon trail--it aint traveled now, but it is a good, plain road, an'
you can't miss it--which you must foller till you reach the prairy."
"I might get lost," whispered Archie. "Why can't you go with me?"
"'Cause I can't leave ole Bob," was the reply. "He's a pris'ner now, an'
I'm goin' to stay here till I see a chance to turn him loose. You can't
get lost if you do as I tell you. When you reach the prairy, travel
straight north fur about ten miles, an' you will come to the Ole Bar's
Hole. If me an' Bob are alive, we'll be thar to-morrer night; but if we
shouldn't come then, don't wait fur us, but strike out fur Fort Benton,
which is exactly north-east of the Ole Bar's Hole. Now be off afore that
young Injun comes back."
"But, Dick," persisted Archie, "I don't want to leave Frank."
"Who axed you to leave him? Ole Bob sent him safe out of camp long ago."
Dick jumped to his feet and staggered off in the direction of the
village, and Archie, after looking all around him to see that there was
no one observing his movements, crept into the bushes. When he reached
them, he arose to an upright position, and hurried along with all
possible speed, keeping in the edge of the ravine, as Dick had directed.
How long it was before the Black Fox discovered his escape and what he
said, and what he did, when he found that his prisoner had slipped
through his fingers, Archie never knew. He heard no tumult behind him,
nor any sounds of pursuit; and neither did he meet any of the Indians
during the two hours he stumbled about through the darkness, picking his
way over rocks and logs toward the old wagon trail of which Dick had
spoken. He reached it in safety, and then his progress became more easy
and rapid.
The road, being overhung by cliffs and trees, was, in some places, pitch
dark; but Archie found but little difficulty in following it. He ran
along, forgetful of every thing except that there were Indians and
outlaws behind him, never giving a thought to the grizzly bears,
panthers, and other savage animals with which the mountains abounded,
and thinking only of the foes he had left in the ravine, and of the Old
Bear's Hole, where he hoped to meet the trappers. Alone in the
mountains, on foot, and entirely unarmed, his situation was far from
being an encouraging one; but Archie had a happy faculty of looking at
the bright side of things.
Dick had told him that the trail was not traveled now, but Archie found
that he was mistaken; for, when he had gone about two miles, he came
suddenly around the base of a mountain, and found before him a long row
of camp-fires, and wagons drawn up on each side of the road. He was
startled by the unexpected sight, and his first impulse was to turn and
take to his heels; but a closer glance satisfied him that he had
stumbled upon the camp of a party of emigrants. That same glance showed
him also that an attempt at retreat might prove extremely hazardous;
for, standing in front of the nearest fire was a man who hailed him the
moment he came in sight, and covered him with his rifle.
"Who's that?" asked the emigrant, in some alarm.
"A friend!" replied Archie. "Don't shoot."
"Come up to the fire, friend, and let's have a look at you," said the
man. "Why, what's the matter with you? You are as white as a sheet."
"Perhaps you would be white, too, if you had passed through what I have
to-night."
"And you are panting as though you had been running," continued the
emigrant. "Where's your horse and your gun? and what are you doing out
here alone in the mountains, at this time of night?"
"It's a long story, and I can't stop to relate it to you. You have made
your camp in a very dangerous place, if you only knew it, and my advice
is to hitch up and start for Fort Benton with as little delay as
possible. There are hostile Indians all around you."
"Indians!" cried the emigrant. He stepped back, and, dropping the butt
of his rifle to the ground, leaned on the muzzle of the weapon and
looked earnestly at Archie, while several men who were lying near the
fire on their blankets, and who had been awakened by the conversation,
raised themselves on their elbows and began to listen more attentively.
"Where is Fort Benton, and why should we go there? We want to go to Fort
Stockton."
"Well, you will never see it. It was burned by Indians not more than
three hours ago, and the most of the garrison were massacred. The
savages may come along this road in less than twenty minutes."
If Archie had never created a sensation before, he could certainly boast
of having made one now. It seemed to him, from the commotion that
ensued, that every person in the train had heard his words.
Exclamations of wonder and alarm arose on all sides: men began running
about, some yoking their oxen and harnessing their mules, others
crowding around Archie and asking innumerable questions which they did
not give him time to answer; horses pranced and snorted; dogs barked;
children cried; women screamed and thrust their heads out of the wagons
to see what was going on; and in a moment the camp, which had been so
quiet and peaceful when Archie first discovered it, was in the greatest
uproar.
"Why, boy, you're crazy!" exclaimed one of the emigrants, when Archie
had hurriedly related his story. "I don't believe a word you say. You've
been asleep, and dreamed it all."
"Am I asleep now?" retorted Archie. "Look at my wrists. Do you dream
that you see those marks on them? They were made by the strips of
buckskin with which I was tied."
"Didn't they tell us at Fort Alexander that there wasn't a hostile
Indian on the plains?" asked another.
"Very likely they did, sir; and no doubt they thought so. I have been
living within sight of a camp of Indians for the last three days, and I
didn't know they were preparing to go on the war-trail; but they were,
and I have passed a portion of this night as a prisoner among those same
Indians."
"But suppose they do attack us? we've got twenty men."
"There were almost seven times as many in Fort Stockton, and yet the
Indians captured it. If you are tired of life, you can stay here; but as
I desire to live awhile longer, I shall go on."
Archie did go on, but he did not go alone; the entire train went with
him. Among the emigrants there were many who had never crossed the
plains before, and who were terrified by the simple mention of the words
"hostile Indians." These prepared to turn back at once; and the others,
not caring to be left behind, accompanied them.
"Is there any one here who can spare me a horse and rifle?" asked
Archie. "I have tramped about among these mountains until I am
completely tired out; and I have no weapon except a pocket-knife."
Archie was standing near a wagon occupied by an invalid, who had
listened to his story with blanched cheeks. When he made this request,
the man said, in a trembling voice:
"You don't look as though you were strong enough to handle a gun but if
you are, here's one at your service."
"I don't want to take this, sir, unless you have other weapons," said
Archie, who, anxious as he was to have some means of defense in his
hands, was not selfish enough to disregard the comfort or safety of
others.
"I have a brace of revolvers," replied the man; "but that thing is of no
use to me, for I never fired a gun in my life. You will find my horse
picketed with the others--a large chestnut-sorrel, with white mane and
tail. The saddle and bridle are in the front of the wagon."
Archie thanked the man cordially, and wondering where he had lived all
his life that he had never learned to use a rifle, he took the saddle
and bridle from the wagon and started out to find the horse.
Never before had Archie seen a wagon-train prepared for the march in so
short a space of time. Every thing was done in a hurry, and, in less
than five minutes, some of the emigrants were moving down the road
toward the prairie. He noticed, also, that now that the excitement and
alarm occasioned by the intelligence he had brought had somewhat
subsided, silence reigned in the camp. Not a loud word was heard. The
men moved about their work as silently as specters, and spoke to their
animals in whispers; the screams had ceased, the children had stopped
crying, and all seemed to understand the necessity of making as little
noise as possible. The horses, too, seemed to comprehend the situation,
for there were no prancing or restless ones among them; and even the
wagons moved off with a subdued creaking of their huge wheels.
When Archie had found and saddled his horse, he began looking about for
the captain of the train. He had something to say to him.