"Honestly, my neck's out of joint, looking around trees all day," John
declared. But he was so light-hearted, so glad to be home again, that he
fairly giggled as he spoke.
"Faith! I'm glad you're here, unhealthy as it is for you," Kingdom
answered. "What with Lone-Elk always just over my shoulder, and now with
the snow on the ground, I don't know how I'd ever have managed to get to
you in the woods!" And so the boys fell to telling each other all that
each had been doing and all that had happened since their last meeting.
Kingdom showed the greatest interest in the discovery of the bodies of
the two men whom John had found dead under the brush heap at the salt
springs. He inquired for every shred of information possible for John to
give him, and tried his best to determine whether the murder had been
committed by Indians or white men. If it was done by white persons, he
declared, the slayer or slayers had at any rate tried to make it appear
that Indians were the guilty ones. The carrying off the scalps of the
dead and removing all valuables from the bodies indicated this.
"Still, I don't see what it signifies, or how it makes any great
difference to us, one way or another," said John, as Ree intimated that
he would have looked into the matter more thoroughly had it been he who
made the discovery.
"Why, of course you do, John! Just think a minute! I've told you about
seeing that camp in the little hollow and the salt spread out to dry.
Now, then, where did that salt come from if not from the big 'lick'? You
mark my word that when we find out whose camping place that is, or was,
we will know pretty well who did that killing. What we ought to do is to
carry the whole story to Wayne's men or to Fort Pitt; but it wouldn't do
any good to go there merely telling that we had found a couple of men
dead. Persons are found dead along the border, somewhere, every day in
the year. But if we could go to Wayne, or anyone else, and show them
that the murderers were white robbers, and not simply sneaking redskins,
there would be more of a chance to call somebody to account."
"That's so," John answered rather thoughtfully, yet in a way which
showed Ree that he did not quite understand.
"Why, certainly!" Kingdom exclaimed somewhat warmly. "If the camp I saw
was the camp of the murderers, who is it likely that they are? British!
That's what! British from Detroit, over in this part of the woods for no
good purpose--spying around Fort Pitt or stirring the Indians up to
hostilities! And that camp I saw was a white man's camp! Indians don't
care much about salt to begin with, and in the second place what white
men would be traveling in this direction and carrying salt with them but
some one headed for Detroit or some other settlement off that way?"
But having reached a conclusion that Indians, and no one else, were
responsible for the two dead bodies beneath the brush pile, John could
not easily get the notion out of his mind, and his interest in Kingdom's
speculations was therefore much less than ordinarily it would have been.
On the other hand Ree pieced together every scrap of evidence he could
find--the stained glove that John had picked up, the indications he
noticed that others had journeyed toward the "lick" from the west, and
the certainty his own find presented that some one had lately obtained
salt, presumably from the springs, in quite considerable quantities.
Extremely tired and too drowsy, now that he was in the midst of warmth
and comfort again, to think much of the danger of his position, John
fell into a doze on his bunk while Kingdom still pondered upon the salt
springs mystery. In the darkness Ree did not at once notice that Jerome
was asleep. Later he made the discovery and it was quite like him that
he covered his friend over with a bearskin, and set himself to watch
till daybreak.
It was fairly light when John awoke. Ree had already been out and the
tracks he found showed that Lone-Elk had abandoned his watch. He had
gone some time after it stopped snowing in the night, but there was no
knowing when he might return.
Although the fact did not occur to either of the two boys at the time,
the coming of the snow was, under the circumstances, a blessing in
disguise. For the Seneca, after watching vigilantly until nearly
morning, and feeling confident that no one except Kingdom had entered
the cabin, was equally sure that no one would do so now that the snow
would at once reveal the trail. With this thought in mind he had quit
his post and, so far as his own trail showed, had returned again to the
town beside the lake.
The perfect quiet within the clearing, and the sense of comfort and
greater security which Ree found in having companionship once more,
permitted him to be persuaded to lie down for the sleep and rest he so
greatly needed, while the younger of the lads did guard duty at the
loopholes in the cabin wall. At the first sign of anyone approaching, it
was agreed he should call Ree, then quickly conceal himself in the loft.
Sooner than the boys expected, the worth of their plan was put to the
test.
A party of seven Indians, Wyandots from the region of Sandusky,
traveling up the river in canoes, landed that morning at the point where
the river met the portage trail, near the cabin of the young Palefaces.
As did most of the Indians for many miles around, they knew of the
presence of the two venturesome white lads in the wilderness, and did
not hesitate to stop for a warm bite to eat and to see what the Paleface
brothers offered in the way of trade.
Little did the Wyandots guess as they drew near the cabin, however, the
flurry their presence caused inside. A mere whisper from John awakened
Ree. In a twinkling the latter sent Jerome climbing into the loft "like
a scared rabbit into its hole," as he afterward expressed it, and
pulling the little ladder up after him.
Kingdom greeted the visitors in his pleasantest manner. They spread
their hands before the bright blaze in the big fireplace, and ate
heartily of the meat he set before them. Nevertheless, when the
strangers showed a disposition to look about rather more closely than
seemed natural, even standing on tip-toe to peer into the loft, the lad
grew decidedly uneasy.
As for John, he watched through a crack all that went on below with a
great deal of interest, indeed. He was scarcely more than a foot above
the heads of the taller Indians. The least sound from his direction
would reach them and excite their suspicion.
Would the Wyandots _never_ go?
Before they had been five minutes in the cabin Ree was wondering why
they lingered so. Every second was magnified sixtyfold as he watched and
waited, doing his best to appear perfectly at ease.
"Much skins up here," one swarthy young fellow with a single black and
red feather in his hair remarked, and with his foot on a stool climbed
partially into the loft.
"Oh, not many--you come down now, brother! You'll bring poles and all
down on our heads," Ree answered, and quickly drawing the Wyandot down,
placed the stool in a place where it would not be so readily available
for such use again.
"Have the Wyandots any salt to trade for knives or cloth or anything
else we have for them?" asked Kingdom, hoping to obtain information
which might be valuable.
"No salt; Injuns got no salt. Paleface get big heap salt at big 'lick,'"
answered the leader of the band. "Paleface over yonder--him have salt.
Him trade, maybe."
"Where? Where over yonder do you mean?" Kingdom inquired, pretending to
be little interested.
"Over yonder--down river. Him have camp piece back from river, yonder."
"Just one man, is it!" Ree asked.
"Ugh! two--leben--four--cuss! Injun don't know!" the Wyandot returned,
and seeing that the redskin suspected that he was being "pumped," Ree
changed the subject as naturally as he could.
Every moment that the Wyandots tarried the boy feared their next words
would be to ask where John was. All the Indians knew there were two of
the white boys, and that they were usually together. Had these travelers
learned of the charge of witchcraft against Little Paleface? Kingdom
dared not turn their thoughts in that direction by any words pertaining
to the subject, and he was glad enough to say goodbye to them, at last,
even though on this point he had gleaned no information.
There was no need for Kingdom to tell what had been said and done by the
visitors when, after they were well out of sight, John came clambering
down from the loft.
"I'm getting awful tired of being a witch, Ree," the latter began,
peeping out of a loophole. "What in the world's the use of our staying
here and living this way? I'm not complaining, old boy, you know I'm
not; but this sort of thing is likely to last all winter. You can't find
out how Big Buffalo was killed, and until you know, every mother's son
of those Delawares swallow all that Lone-Elk tells them. So how's it
going to end? Am I to jump and run like a whipped pup, all winter, every
time we hear a noise?"
"Just you wait, my son," Kingdom answered, quite gaily. "We know that
the Seneca's hold on Captain Pipe is his secret lead mine. Suppose we
find that mine! Mr. Pipe will be glad to find out where it is. There!
Now you see what I mean. You're just feeling a little cross because you
had to stay out of sight. But here's another thing, John. We agree that
we don't intend to let any one Indian chase us away from here; but we
have some business on hand besides that. We've got to find out, if we
can, who killed those men at the salt springs. With all the reason we
have for believing that the murderers are camped out just about under
our very noses, we're bound to look after them, especially if they're
white men, and--well, you heard what the Wyandots said just two minutes
ago. Don't you think, either, John," the older lad concluded very
soberly, "that I don't see the danger we are in. I see it big and strong
all around us; but we've gone too far to turn back unless we have to. If
we can come out ahead of Lone-Elk just once, there will be no danger of
his ever troubling us again. Pipe and all the Delawares will be our
solid friends for all time. We don't want to sacrifice all we have done
here and the good start we've made, do we, John?"
Ree's last sentence was an appeal. Jerome might have argued against
every other point, but not against that. "We'll stay here till water
runs up hill, Ree, before we'll budge an inch except we want to," he
declared with quiet emphasis. "So what are we going to do next?" he
added.
"Wait till the snow's gone," Ree answered cheerily. "It's thawing fast
now and by afternoon we can hunt up that camp where I saw the salt
spread out. Until then we will have to watch out that Lone-Elk doesn't
come prowling around again."
"Good thing it's all we have to do. It's enough to keep one man busy,"
John returned, and undoubtedly he was right; but nevertheless their
labor was for nothing this time. The Seneca was not discovered, nor was
there a single visitor to the neighborhood of the clearing.
Kingdom's prediction that the snow would soon be gone was quickly
verified; for the wind having changed to the southwest, a rain came up
by noon which completed the work of the sun very quickly.
Call to mind the most gloomy, misty, wet and altogether disagreeable
fall day you can remember, and you will have a fair idea of the sort of
afternoon on which John Jerome and Return Kingdom tramped cautiously
through the woods in search of the camp of the suspected salt spring
murderers. The gloom in the thicker portions of the forest was little
short of actual darkness and the mist or fog became so dense, as time
went on, that objects were indistinguishable at a distance of more than
a few yards.
The secret nature of their expedition and Kingdom's oft expressed belief
that the camp they sought was occupied by British traders, or even
soldiers from about Detroit, caused both the boys to feel a great deal
of importance attaching to their undertaking. Just what they expected to
discover, however, or what they intended saying regarding the purpose of
their visit, in case they found the birds in their nest, neither of the
two could very well have told.
Time and its developments answer many questions and so were the
questions confronting Ree and John disposed of a little later. Kingdom
had little difficulty in leading the way to the camp he had so strangely
discovered. His familiarity with the woods for miles around would have
made any spot in the vicinity of the cabin easily located.
Favored by the mist and semi-darkness, the two boys readily approached
very near to the edge of the little bluff from which they could look
down upon the camp without danger of their presence being discovered.
Then on hands and knees they went forward more cautiously.
The birds, were gone. The nest was there, just as Ree had seen it,
except that the salt had been taken away; but the camp was unoccupied
and the ruins of the campfire were cold and water-soaked.
With much curiosity the two young detectives inspected the deserted camp
and its surroundings. Nothing could they find to indicate who its makers
had been or whither they had gone. In vain did they examine the ground
within a radius of several yards from the heap of dead ashes. They
discovered not so much, as a footprint.
Compelled at last to give up their search in disappointment, the boys
were about to climb out of the protected nook the bluff formed on three
sides of the camp, when John observed a small pile of wood such as would
be gathered for a campfire in the forest. It was partially covered with
leaves and being a rod or two from the site of the camp had not sooner
been noticed.
"It may mean that they're coming back and it may not," the lad remarked.
As he spoke he saw Kingdom pick up something a few feet away and quietly
put it in his pocket.
"At any rate they're gone," Ree answered. "We may as well go, too."
The boys climbed the ascent to the higher ground without further
comment. When they had gone some distance John asked:
"What was it that you found, Ree? I thought I saw you pick something
up."
"What do you think, John? It was a glove, the mate to that other one.
What do you think of that?" was the low but earnest answer.
And while the boys hurried quietly through the woods, there emerged from
a small cave, screened from view by sumac and other bushes, in the
little ravine, a roughly dressed man who climbed the bluff and gazed
after them.