Meanwhile the fugitives in the cavern were placed in a situation almost
as grave as that of Gravity Gimp himself.
The departure of the latter created a stir that lasted some minutes
after Mr. Brainerd drew back and whispered to his friends the fact that
the servant had reached the ground above, and was unmolested.
"He must pass over the spot where the man stood who fired the shot,"
said Maggie Brainerd, "and he ought to find out who he is."
"Provided the stranger remains there, which isn't likely."
The reader knows that this hope was disappointed, for the negro saw
nothing of the man nor did he once think of him, while making the
reconnoissance that resulted in his own capture.
"Now," said the father, who felt as though his responsibility had
increased since the departure of the African, "Aunt Peggy, you must keep
yourself and the girls as far back and away from the mouth of the cavern
as you can, for there's no telling when a stray bullet may come in."
"I will see that we are all out of harm's way, while we are here," said
Habakkuk McEwen.
"There's no doubt of that as far as yourself is concerned, but your
personal safety is not a matter of concern to any of us here."
"But, Richard," ventured Aunt Peggy, coming close to the elbow of her
brother-in-law, "what are _you_ going to do?"
"I shall stay where I am, at the mouth of the cave, watching that point
yonder. It won't do to relax our vigilance, for a single minute of such
neglect may prove fatal."
"But you will be struck, if a shot is sent into this place."
"No one is safer than I; do you see?"
As he spoke he indicated a large, long stone, some twenty or more inches
in length and a third as thick.
"It's a loose piece of the rock, which I chanced upon. I laid it in
front of me across my line of vision to rest my gun upon. That gives me
an easy position, while I have a good breast-work."
"But don't you have to look over the line of protection, so as to keep
good watch?" asked Maggie.
"There must be a certain amount of danger, no matter how well we are
protected."
But there was one fact which Mr. Brainerd, with all his forethought,
failed to take note of: his anxiety was so great that he believed he
could do without sleep for a week, and yet he should have known that if
he undertook to lie down on his face and keep watch, no solicitude nor
effort of the will could keep him awake.
The only recourse is that of continual motion, as is the case with the
sailor on watch or the sentinel on guard at night.
In fact, no posture could have been more wooing to the gentle goddess
that steals away our senses ere we are aware.
The females, as Mr. Brainerd had suggested, withdrew to the rear of the
cavern, placing themselves at one side where no bullet could reach
them, unless fired from the mass of rocks that the father was watching
with such close attention.
Habakkuk McEwen, located near them, attempted a conversation, but no one
showed any disposition to take part, and Aunt Peggy invited him so
energetically to keep quiet that he complied.
As Mr. Brainerd lay extended on the flat, rocky floor of the cavern,
with his gun cocked and pointed outward, he asked himself more than one
question which he could not answer.
Looking as hopefully as he might at the situation, he saw no ground for
encouragement.
Gravity Gimp had departed, and he did not believe he would be able to
come back. In this belief the settler was correct, for the African never
placed foot in the cavern again.
He had gone, taking one of the guns with him, and so much power of
defense was abstracted from the little party without any possible
return.
Although Habakkuk McEwen seemed at first to be an acquisition, yet the
cowardice shown a short time before so displeased Mr. Brainerd that,
despite the necessity of union, he forbore almost entirely to have any
communication with him.
Stretched out thus in the rocky shelter, with his gun thrust forward and
his eyes fixed on the danger-point, the stillness became oppressive.
The deep, hollow roar of the forest, the soft murmur of the river, the
distant crack of a rifle, and the shout of some wild Indian or flying
fugitive--all these came to the listener with impressive distinctness.
But, at the same time, as I have shown, the situation was favorable to
slumber, and ere the watcher suspected it, his eyes closed and his
senses floated away.
He breathed so softly that none of his friends suspected he was
sleeping. Indeed, almost at the same time, Habakkuk drifted into
dreamland, his loud breathing being audible to all who were awake.
Eva Brainerd, with her head resting in the lap of her loved sister,
slept like an infant, but Maggie and Aunt Peggy kept as alert as when
they were in the small boat, pushing across the Susquehanna. No two
persons could realize the peril of their situation more than did these
two, who talked in low tones, and speculated as to what was the best
thing to do, if, indeed, they could do anything at all.
Mr. Brainerd did not sleep long, his senses coming back to him as softly
as they had departed. When fully himself, his position was the same as
taken at first. His gun was still pointed toward the column of rocks,
that was more plainly visible than before, now that the moon was higher
in the sky.
He felt as though he had been sleeping for hours, though in reality it
was no more than fifteen minutes, and a shudder passed over him at the
consciousness that a hundred red men might have leaped across the chasm
in front without danger to themselves.
He could only hope that such advantage had not been taken of his
remissness. Hearing the faint murmur of Maggie and Aunt Peggy's voices
as they spoke to each other, he was on the point of turning to ask them
a question, when something like a shadow flitted across the space which
he was guarding.
He rubbed his eyes and looked again; another and then another whisked
by, like the flight of birds, and then he awoke to the fact that, while
he lay there, with his loaded and aimed rifle, three Indian warriors had
leaped across the opening that separated them from the mass of rocks
which commanded the situation.
Even supposing none had made the leap while the watcher was asleep, it
was certain that the number named had secured the shelter, and now they
could pick off every one in the cavern at their convenience, without
risk to themselves.
"I don't see any use of trying to hold out," muttered the watcher, in
the bitterness of spirit; "at such a time as this, when the wretches get
started, it seems as though everything favors them. I thought since that
shot came so opportunely, that we would receive more help from the same
source, but he, too, has slumbered, and while he slept--"
"Father," broke in Maggie, "I hear some one overhead, just where that
person was when he fired his gun."
The girl was right, for her parent detected it at the same moment: it
was as if some one were scraping his feet over the upper surface of the
rocks, though it was impossible to imagine the meaning of his action.
Then as the three listened, they thought he was gradually working toward
the edge of the ravine, until suddenly the sound stopped.
No one spoke, and all were fairly holding their breath, when, to their
dismay, a pair of feet, quickly followed by a pair of shapely legs,
appeared in front of the cavern, slowly descending, and bringing more of
the owner in sight.
Some one was lowering himself from the top of the ravine, with the
purpose of dropping in the path in front and entering the cavern!
"It is an Injin," called out Aunt Peggy; "why don't you shoot him,
Richard, before he kills us all?"
At that instant the stranger dropped with a light bound, and, looking
around in the gloom, asked:
"Are you all here?"
The moment he spoke, the voice was recognized as that of Fred Godfrey.