The experience of Gravity Gimp, after reaching the outside of the
cavern, was remarkable in more than one respect.
When he found himself creeping up the narrow path, to the high ground
above, and realized that he would make a capital target for one or a
dozen of the Seneca sharpshooters, his teeth fairly rattled, and he
would have retreated, but for his affection for the members of the
Brainerd family.
"'Spect dere's two hundred ob 'em a-settin' in a row on a log up dere
and waitin' for me, and when I come along dey'll each one hit me ober de
head wid de butt end ob dere tomahawks, and by de time dey gots frough
I'll hab de headache so bad dat I'll be as dizzy as Haberkick down
dere."
Gravity paused for a minute, and then resumed creeping forward. Within
the succeeding ten minutes he had reached the high level ground above,
without sight or sound of an Indian.
No wonder he was mystified, for it occurred to him, naturally enough,
that if he could pass out unchallenged in that fashion all the others
might do the same, and what seemed to be a very perilous situation might
thus resolve itself into nothing of the kind.
He came near turning back and inviting his friends to follow him, but
fortunately he changed his mind and decided to go farther, before
believing that the cloud had lifted.
"Dere don't seem to be anybody loafing 'bout here," he muttered, "and
I'll promenade a little further."
He now began cautiously moving over the same ground he and his friends
had hurried along when so hotly chased by the Indians.
Only a short distance was passed in the deep shadows of the trees, when
he paused, still mystified.
The question presented itself as to how he was to accomplish anything
that could benefit those whom he had left behind, for if they should
seek to leave the cavern during the night, there was no other way, so
far as he could judge, excepting that which he himself had taken.
"It must be dat the Injuns are down on de oder side de ravine, and I
think dere's where I'll take an observation."
No task could be more delicate than this, and Gravity, with all his
shrewdness, was unfitted to undertake it. There were scouts, who under
the circumstances, would have gathered all the knowledge desired, and
would have placed themselves among their enemies without detection, but
the African was a different kind of personage.
He picked his way along the wood above the cavern, and had gone less
than two rods beyond, when he stopped to gaze about him. The gloom was
so dense that he could see very little, excepting when he looked across
the ravine, where the moonlight fell and where the mass of rocks, so
dreaded by the fugitives, was in plain sight.
He saw nothing there which could enlighten him, but his heart nearly
stood still, when he not only heard a movement behind him near the
point where the path to the cavern reached the high ground above, but
despite the gloom detected several dark figures moving stealthily about.
That these were Indians there could be no doubt, and the conclusion was
inevitable that they had seen him come out and had allowed him to pass
by them without molestation.
Being now between him and the shelter, his return was cut off, and no
matter what important discoveries he might make, he had no means of
telling them to his friends.
"I might have knowed dere would be some goings on like dis," he said,
with a throb of alarm. "De best thing I kin do is to strike out for
Stroudsburg alone, widout waitin' for de folks."
Though he might have been justified in this course, yet his conscience
would not permit it, and he started again, with the purpose of
passing around to the other side of the ravine, and making a closer
reconnoissance of the spot where he was certain of finding enemies.
This required a long detour, and a full half-hour passed before he got
across the short ravine and began climbing up the other side, near
where the Indians were known to be only a short time before.
As might have been anticipated, he went wrong, and got into the worst
trouble of his life.
He had seen nothing more of the Senecas, but several faint whistles he
recognized as signals passing between them, and he should have
understood, from what had already taken place, that his movements were
watched by the wary foe.
He was climbing a narrow passage, and was, perhaps, a dozen feet above
the bottom of the ravine, when, to his dismay, a sinewy warrior sprang
up in front of him, as though leaping out of the ground itself, and with
tomahawk raised and a guttural exclamation, made for him.
The assault was so sudden that Gimp had no time to use his rifle, but he
was not taken altogether at fault. Dropping the weapon, he recoiled a
step or two and escaped the implement as it came down with a vicious
whiz.
Before the warrior could recover or retreat, the African threw both
arms about him, and, lifting him as though he were an infant, flung him
headlong into the ravine below.
"Dere! guess dat'll jar you a little--"
But, to his amazement, a second brawny Indian appeared directly where
the other had first shown himself, and he was immediately followed by
others, who, it was plain, were pushing up through a narrow passage for
the purpose of capturing the African.
The latter had succeeded so well a minute before, that he again resorted
to the same tactics, and, catching hold of the first warrior he could
reach, he hurried him after the first. Then the next was treated in the
same manner, and, for the time, Gravity Gimp became a sort of sable
geyser or miniature volcano, throwing into the air sprawling Seneca
Indians with a vehemence that was as picturesque as it was amazing.
The exercise of hurling full-grown men aloft, regardless of how high
they go, and in what posture they strike, is an exhausting diversion, no
matter how powerful the gymnast who engages in it.
Thus it came about that the herculean African speedily found that he had
his hands more than full, and his terrific efforts so told upon him that
he grew more sluggish in his movements, until at last he was fairly
smothered with the crush of warriors, and, despite his fierce
resistance, was made prisoner.