THE HUNTERS.
A few words now about the personages we have just brought upon the
scene, and who are destined to play an important part in this history.
Loyal Heart--this name was the only one by which the hunter was known
throughout the prairies of the West--enjoyed an immense reputation for
skill, loyalty, and courage among the Indian tribes, with whom the
chances of his adventurous existence had brought him in relation. All
respected him. The white hunters and trappers, whether Spaniards, North
Americans, or half-breeds, had a high opinion of his experience of the
woods, and often had recourse to his counsels.
The pirates of the prairies themselves, thorough food for the gallows,
the refuse of civilization, who only lived by rapine and exactions,
did not dare to attack him, and avoided as much as possible throwing
themselves in his way.
Thus this man had succeeded by the sheer force of his intelligence and
his will, in creating for himself, and almost unknown to himself, a
power accepted and recognized by the ferocious inhabitants of these vast
deserts,--a power which he only employed in the common interest, and to
facilitate for all the means of following in safety the occupations they
had adopted.
No one knew who Loyal Heart was, or whence he came; the greatest mystery
covered his early years.
One day, about twenty years before, when he was very young, some hunters
had fallen in with him on the banks of the Arkansas in the act of
setting traps for beavers. The few questions put to him concerning his
preceding life remained unanswered; and the hunters, people not very
talkative by nature, fancying they perceived, from the embarrassment and
reticence of the young man, that he had a secret which he desired to
keep, made a scruple about pressing him further--and nothing more was
said on the subject.
At the same time, contrary to other hunters, or trappers of the
prairies, who have all one or two companions with whom they associate,
and whom they never leave, Loyal Heart lived alone, having no fixed
habitation; he traversed the desert in all directions without pitching
his tent anywhere.
Always reserved and melancholy, he avoided the society of his equals,
although always ready, when occasion offered, to render them services,
or even to expose his life for them. Then, when they attempted to
express their gratitude, he would clap spurs to his horse, and go and
set his traps at a distance, to give time to those he had obliged to
forget the service he had rendered.
Every year, at the same period, that is to say, about the month of
October, Loyal Heart disappeared for several entire weeks, without
anyone being able to suspect whither he was gone; and when he returned
it was observed that for several days his countenance was more dark and
sad than ever.
One day he came back from one of these mysterious expeditions,
accompanied by two magnificent young bloodhounds, which had from that
time remained with him, and of which he seemed very fond.
Five years before the period at which we resume our narrative, when
returning one evening from laying his traps for the night, he suddenly
perceived the fire of an Indian camp through the trees.
A white youth, scarcely seventeen years of age, was fastened to a stake,
and served as mark for the knives of the redskins, who amused themselves
with torturing him before they sacrificed him to their sanguinary rage.
Loyal Heart, listening to nothing but the pity which the victim
inspired, and without reflecting on the terrible danger to which he
exposed himself, rushed in among the Indians, and placed himself in
front of the prisoner, for whom he made a rampart of his body.
These Indians were Comanches. Astonished by this sudden irruption, which
they were far from expecting, they remained a few instants motionless,
confounded by so much audacity.
Without losing a moment, Loyal Heart cut the bonds of the prisoner,
and giving him a knife, which the other received with joy, they both
prepared to sell their lives dearly.
White men inspire Indians with an instinctive, an invincible terror; the
Comanches, however, on recovering from their surprise, showed signs of
rushing forward to attack the two men who seemed to defy them.
But the light of the fire, which fell full upon the face of the hunter,
had permitted some of them to recognize him. The redskins drew back with
respect, murmuring among themselves,--
"Loyal Heart! the great paleface hunter!"
Eagle Head, for so was the chief of these Indians named, did not know
the hunter; it was the first time he had descended into the plains
of the Arkansas, and he could not comprehend the exclamation of his
warriors; besides, he cordially detested the palefaces, against whom
he had sworn to carry on a war of extermination. Enraged at what he
considered cowardice on the part of those he commanded, he advanced
alone against Loyal Heart, but then an extraordinary occurrence took
place.
The Comanches threw themselves upon their chief, and notwithstanding the
respect in which they held him, they disarmed him to prevent his making
any attack upon the hunter.
Loyal Heart, after thanking them, himself restored his arms to the
chief; who received them coldly, casting a sinister glance at his
generous adversary.
The hunter, perceiving this feeling, shrugged his shoulders
disdainfully, and departed with the prisoner.
Loyal Heart had, in less than ten minutes, made for himself an
implacable enemy and a devoted friend.
The history of the prisoner was simple.
Having left Canada with his father, for the purpose of hunting in the
prairies, they had fallen into the hands of the Comanches; after a
desperate resistance, his father had fallen covered with wounds. The
Indians, irritated at this death, which robbed them of a victim, had
bestowed the greatest care upon the young man, in order that he might
honourably figure at the stake of punishment, and this would inevitably
have happened had it not been for the providential intervention of Loyal
Heart.
After having obtained these particulars, the hunter asked the young
man what his intentions were, and whether the rough apprenticeship he
had gone through as a wood ranger had not disgusted him with a life of
adventures.
"By my faith, no!" the other replied; "on the contrary, I feel more
determined than ever to follow this career; and, besides," he added, "I
wish to avenge my father."
"That is just," the hunter observed.
The conversation broke off at this point.
Loyal Heart, having conducted the young man to one of his _cachés_ (a
sort of magazines dug in the earth in which trappers collect their
wealth), produced the complete equipment of a trapper,--gun, knife,
pistols, game bags, and traps,--and then, after placing these things
before his _protégé_, he said simply,--
"Go! and God speed you!"
The other looked at him without replying; he evidently did not
understand him.
Loyal Heart smiled.
"You are free," he resumed; "here are all the objects necessary for your
new trade,--I give them to you, the desert is before you; I wish you
good luck!"
The young man shook his head.
"No," he said, "I will not leave you unless you drive me from you; I am
alone, without family or friends; you have saved my life, and I belong
to you."
"It is not my custom to receive payment for the services I render," said
the hunter.
"You require to be paid for them too dearly," the other answered warmly,
"since you refuse to accept gratitude. Take back your gifts, they are of
no use to me; I am not a mendicant to whom alms can be thrown; I prefer
going back and delivering myself up again to the Comanches--adieu!"
And the Canadian resolutely walked away in the direction of the Indian
camp.
Loyal Heart was affected. This young man had so frank, so honest and
spirited an air, that he felt something in his breast speak strongly in
his favour.
"Stop!" he said.
And the other stopped.
"I live alone," the hunter continued; "the existence which you will pass
with me will be a sad one: a great grief consumes me; why should you
attach yourself to me, who are unhappy?"
"To share your grief, if you think me worthy, and to console you, if
that be possible; when man is left alone, he runs the risk of falling
into despair; God has ordained that he should seek companions."
"That is true," the still undecided hunter murmured.
"Why do you pause?" the young man asked anxiously.
Loyal Heart gazed at him for a moment attentively; his eagle eye
seemed to seek to penetrate his most secret thoughts; then, doubtless,
satisfied with his examination, he asked,
"What is your name?"
"Belhumeur," the other replied; "or, if you prefer it, George Talbot; but
I am generally known by the first name."
The hunter smiled.
"That is a promising name," he said, holding out his hand. "Belhumeur,"
he added, "from this time you are my brother; henceforth there is a
friendship for life and death between us."
He kissed him above the eyes, as is the custom in the prairies in
similar circumstances.
"For life and death," the Canadian replied, with a burst of enthusiasm,
warmly pressing the hand which was held out to him, and kissing, in his
turn, his new brother under the eyes.
And this was the way in which Loyal Heart and Belhumeur had become
known to each other. During five years, not the least cloud, not the
shadow of a cloud, had darkened the friendship which these two superior
natures had sworn to each other in the desert, in the face of God. On
the contrary, every day seemed to increase it; they had but one heart
between them. Completely relying on each other, divining each other's
most secret thoughts, these two men had seen their strength augment
tenfold, and such was their reciprocal confidence, that they doubted
nothing, and undertook and carried out the most daring expeditions, in
face of which ten resolute men would have paused.
But everything succeeded with them, nothing appeared to be impossible to
them; it might be said that a charm protected them, and rendered them
invulnerable and invincible.
Their reputation was thus spread far and near, and those whom their name
did not strike with admiration repeated it with terror.
After a few months passed by Loyal Heart in studying his companion,
drawn away by that natural want which man feels of confiding his
troubles to a faithful friend, the hunter no longer had any secrets from
Belhumeur. This confidence, which the young man expected impatiently,
but which he had done nothing to bring about, had bound still closer, if
possible, the ties which united the two men, by furnishing the Canadian
with the means of giving his friend the consolations which his bruised
spirit required, and of avoiding irritating wounds that were ever
bleeding.
On the day we met them in the prairie, they had just been the victims of
an audacious robbery, committed by their ancient enemy, Eagle Head, the
Comanche chief, whose hatred and rancour, instead of being weakened by
time, had, on the contrary, only increased.
The Indian, with the characteristic deceit of his race, had dissembled,
and devoured in silence the affront he had undergone from his people,
and of which the two palefaced hunters were the direct cause, and
awaited patiently the hour of vengeance. He had quietly dug a pit under
the feet of his enemies, by prejudicing the redskins by degrees against
them, and adroitly spreading calumnies about them. Thanks to this
system, he had at length succeeded, or, at least, he thought he had, in
making all the individuals dispersed over the prairies, even the white
and half-breed hunters, consider these two men as their enemies.
As soon as this result had been obtained, Eagle Head placed himself
at the head of thirty devoted warriors; and, anxious to bring about a
quarrel that might ruin the men whose death he had sworn to accomplish,
he had in one single night stolen all their traps, certain that they
would not leave such an insult unpunished, but would try to avenge it.
The chief was not deceived in his calculations; all had fallen out just
as he had foreseen it would.
In this position he awaited his enemies.
Thinking that they would find no assistance among the Indians or
hunters, he flattered himself that with the thirty men he commanded he
could easily seize the two hunters, whom he proposed to put to death
with atrocious tortures.
But he had committed the fault of concealing the number of his warriors,
in order to inspire more confidence in the hunters.
The latter had only partially been the dupes of this stratagem.
Considering themselves sufficiently strong to contend even with twenty
Indians, they had claimed the assistance of no one to avenge themselves
upon enemies they despised, and had, as we have seen, set out resolutely
in pursuit of the Comanches.
Closing here this parenthesis, a rather long one, it is true, but
indispensable to understand of what is to follow, we will take up our
narrative at the point we broke off at, on terminating the preceding
chapter.