The crack of Richard Brainerd's rifle and the death-shriek of the Seneca
Indian were almost simultaneous, but the redskin was only a slight way
in advance of the other savages, who, understanding the meaning of the
report and outcry, dashed forward.
The startling episode caused some bewilderment on the part of the other
fugitives, seeing which, the eldest called out to them impatiently:
"Push on, there! Push on! the Indians are right on us."
Providentially, the advance were so close to the refuge that Gravity
Gimp caught sight of the spot, and without looking around, he swung his
hand over his head and exclaimed:
"Here we am! Here we am!"
"And that's the trouble," growled Habakkuk McEwen, crowding hard after
him, "if we were only somewhere else, we'd feel a good deal
better--leastways I would."
Another whoop was heard, then others at the rear, and those who glanced
back caught sight of several warriors flitting among the trees and
within the toss of a stone of them.
Brainerd would have fired again had it been in his power, but his gun
was unloaded and it was impossible to ram a charge home, and pour the
powder in the pan, without coming to a standstill for a minute or two,
and such hesitation would be death.
Had the place of refuge toward which they were hastening been a dozen
rods farther, not one of the fugitives would have reached it alive, but,
at the critical moment, Gimp, the African, told the joyous news that it
was at hand, and a general scramble followed.
The servant paused at the head of the elevated path, and turning around,
beckoned excitedly for the others to hurry, when they were already doing
their utmost, while he danced about and waited the few seconds necessary
for them to reach him.
While he was doing so, Habakkuk McEwen suddenly vanished from sight,
evidently concluding that the "time for disappearing" had come.
He had caught sight of the refuge, and with one bound he went down the
declivity and was first to enter.
He took a sweeping glance of the interior, and was disappointed, for it
was not what he expected, but it was far better than the open
wilderness. He dashed for the narrow path on the outside, to take his
part in yelling for the others to hurry up, or rather down.
"Be quick! Quick!"
It was Aunt Peggy who came panting into the opening with a rush, and,
colliding with McEwen, sent him tumbling backwards.
By the time the bewildered New Englander was on his feet again, Maggie
Brainerd, Eva, her father, and Gravity Gimp came crowding into the
narrow place, all nearly out of breath.
There was a general looking around in the semi-gloom, and Habakkuk's
disappointment was shared by those who had not seen the place before.
It was of little account, and, although it might be made to answer as a
temporary refuge, it could hardly be expected to furnish secure defense
for an extended time.
Descending a narrow path for twenty feet, and all the time along the
face of the ravine, as it may be called, they reached a spot which
looked as if it had been scooped out of the solid stone wall.
It ran back a dozen feet or more, and was about the same breadth and
height, but the difficulty was that the opening was fully as great, so
that, viewed from the front, the person or animal who might seek shelter
there was in plain sight.
The spot was one of the many romantic ones that abound in the mountains
fringing the Wyoming Valley. The rapidly sloping path that the fugitives
followed terminated in front of the cave, which, therefore, could only
be approached from the single direction. Beyond, the path narrowed off
to nothing, leaving a perpendicular wall of stone for twenty feet below,
and almost as much overhead.
The ravine on which this bordered was fifty feet across, but directly
opposite was the weak point of the defense.
A mass of rocks rose fully as high, if not a few feet higher, than the
cavern in which the fugitives had taken refuge; consequently, if an
enemy could gain a position behind these boulders, he could fire down
into the opening, where our friends had no means of protecting
themselves from the shots.
But it was no easy matter to reach this monument-like pile, though it
could be done at much risk to the one attempting it. The configuration
was so peculiar that one man at a time could creep along behind the
other stones, until a point was almost reached which commanded the
retreat, though the inmates, by pressing close against one side of the
cavern, could escape the fire of an enemy.
On the other side there was no means of approach to such a position.
If a foe would climb up the rocks, and steal forward to a certain point,
an active Indian could make a leap that would carry him to the cover of
the pile, where he could aim and shoot into the cavern without risk to
himself, provided he used ordinary caution.
Furthermore, it was unlikely that the Indians, skilled as they were in
woodcraft, would fail to see this vulnerable point and their own coigne
of vantage.
In truth they detected it almost on the same instant the fugitives
hurried into the cavern.