A CLEW AT LAST.
No good reason could be thought of why Jack and the Sauk should remain
in the canoe. In fact, they would have shown more prudence had they
remained where they were when the Pawnees disembarked and walked out of
sight in the woods; or, if they felt the need of changing their
quarters, they ought to have gone as far as they could from their foes,
instead of following them and inviting more peril.
The training of the American Indian makes him treacherous, subtle and
full of resources. The desire to "get ahead" of, or to outwit a rival is
natural to us all, and is one of the most characteristic traits of the
red men. It was that prompting, more than any thing else, which led
Hay-uta to leave the youth behind, while he trailed the Pawnees into the
forest.
But the death-shriek of Red Wolf was sure to bring his comrades to the
spot within the space of one or two minutes; they would quickly read the
particulars of the story, and the footprints of the Sauk would be traced
to the river's edge, where their arrival was inevitable within an almost
equally brief space of time.
Should Hay-uta head for the opposite bank, and whirl the paddle with
might and main, he and his companion would be riddled with bullets
before they could pass beyond range of the Indians on shore. There
really was but one thing to do, and that was done off-hand and without
hesitation.
The canoe, under the silent but powerful strokes of the Sauk, and with
its light load, skimmed over the surface like a swallow. Hay-uta ran as
close in as he could, without allowing the overhanging limbs to obstruct
his speed. Twenty rods were passed in this manner, when he turned the
head of the boat toward shore, refraining, however, from letting it run
against it. One bound carried him out, and Jack was at his heels. Then a
gentle shove sent it beyond the dripping branches, where it was under
full control of the current, and it resumed its downward flight, though
in the bewildered fashion which showed it was under the control of no
one.
It was fortunate for our friends that the margin of the stream was
fringed with so much vegetation, as it afforded the best kind of a
hiding place. Without entering the water, they crouched into the
smallest possible space, Jack wondering whether their good fortune would
still bear them company.
A wailing cry sounded a brief distance above, and the lad needed not the
grimace and gesture of the Sauk to know that the Pawnees had discovered
the body of Red Wolf and the theft of the boat. Within the following
minute the tread of hurrying moccasins was heard, and they passed within
a few feet of where the two lay, not daring even to look up. That was
all well enough, but when another cry made known they had found the
craft, the real peril of the two may be said to have begun.
Jack Carleton knew as well as if it had taken place under his own eyes,
that one of the Pawnees was making his way through the water to the
boat, whose gunwale was grasped, and by which it was drawn back to land.
This took place about as far below our friends as the point from which
they started the canoe was above them. If the Pawnees should retrace the
ground, carefully beating the bushes for "game", they would be sure to
drive it out.
Jack found the care of the bow of Deerfoot quite a burden. It was
continually in his way, and was of no help at all. Seeing his
embarrassment, the Sauk took it in charge, while the youth suspended the
quiver over his shoulder.
The Pawnees did not make the search that was dreaded, and it is not
difficult to guess the reason. They had just lost one of their number,
and, though there seemed to be only two foes near them, yet they must
have suspected there were more. These strangers could do terrific
fighting, as they had proven, and the five Pawnees preferred to await
the arrival of re-enforcements, which would soon come from the other
side. In truth, a study of the events which followed, as well of those
which preceded, shows good reason to believe the curious coincidence
that the Pawnees were as ignorant of the reappearance of the Shawanoe on
the other bank, as he was of the passage of the river by the half dozen
hostiles in their canoe.
But the report of the rifle, the death-shriek, and the shouts of the
Pawnees, had given Deerfoot an inkling of the truth, before he was able
to learn all by investigation on his own part. Still it was a most
annoying interference with a daring scheme he had set on foot, and which
was in danger of being overthrown altogether. The brow of the youth
wrinkled with impatience, for he knew that all this skirmishing could
have been saved to his friends, had they used care; but at the moment he
was most discouraged, events took an unexpected turn in his favor.
Meanwhile Jack Carleton and Hay-uta did not stir for several minutes,
but, as they listened, it seemed to the youth that their enemies
required not to come very nigh, in order to locate them by the
tumultuous throbbing of his heart. He was sure the brief silence which
followed was occupied by the Pawnees in looking for them, but, as I have
shown in another place, he erred. The rippling of water caused both to
turn their heads, and, through the interlacing vegetation behind, they
caught a glimpse of the canoe and its five occupants, heading toward the
other side. The Sauk softly insinuated his hand between the leaves, so
as to give a better view (though he ran much risk), and Jack ventured to
peep forth.
The Pawnees, as our friends believed, had gone back for re-enforcements.
Possibly a score, more or less, of warriors would be transferred to the
shore they had left, and then the campaign would open in earnest.
Hay-uta could not close his ear to the whispering of prudence; clearly
their duty was to leave the spot before their enemies could come back.
Bravery, skill, and cunning, when allied to common sense, would permit
no other course.
Throwing off, therefore, the extreme caution they had exercised, they
rose to their feet, and the Sauk led the way to the river bank. They did
not forget the care which a frontiersman always shows when treading the
wilderness, but the tension of their nerves was relaxed, and Jack felt
some of the jauntiness that was his during the first day he spent with
Deerfoot in the hunt for Otto Relstaub.
It did not seem necessary to go far, and scarcely a furlong was passed
when the Sauk selected a spot from which they could watch the river
without exposing themselves to detection by any one on the further
shore. If the Pawnees should return, as our friends were confident they
would do, it was not likely they would delay long. It was an easy matter
to summon all their warriors, and such as could not be accommodated in
the canoe, could swim beside it.
At the moment that the Sauk secured a safe point from which to look out,
Jack Carleton made the most important discovery that had come to the
knowledge of any one of the three since starting on their journey.
Something on the ground just ahead and a little to one side of Hay-uta,
caught his eye. The Sauk did not see it, and the boy did not suspect it
was of any account. It was in obedience rather to a whim than to any
reasoning impulse that he stepped aside and picked up the object.
"Great Caesar!" he exclaimed. "It's Otto's cap!"
For a moment Jack stood transfixed, with the article held at arm's
length, while the Sauk stared in turn, as if he thought the youth was
beside himself.
But the lad was too familiar with that headgear to be mistaken. He
turned it over and over, held it close to his face and scrutinized every
particle of it; it was the same peaked hat which poor Otto had worn so
long, and it was on his head when he and Jack--both captives--parted
company weeks before.
How long the hat had lain where it was picked up, could not be told. Its
make was such that, while the owner had worn it several years, it was
still good for an indefinite time longer. A day or a month of exposure
would make little difference in its appearance.
When Jack had recovered from his amazement, he and Hay-uta examined the
immediate vicinity. The action of the youth, and the emotion he
displayed, told the story to the Sauk, who did not fail also to see the
value of the clew that had fallen into their hands.
Ten feet from where the cap was found lay a small decayed tree. It had
probably been blown down during some gale. The suggestion presented
itself that Otto Relstaub was sitting on this support, when he either
flung the hat from him, or some one else did so. That which the friends
wished to find now was the footprints left by the lad when he went away:
_they_ would tell the story as nothing else could.
If the missing boy had gone within the preceding two or three days, the
keen vision of the Sauk could see and follow the trail. Recognizing his
immeasurably superior skill, Jack remained seated on the tree and nodded
to Hay-uta to push his search.
The warrior did every thing he could, stepping as lightly as a fawn, his
shoulders bending low, while he scrutinized the leaves with a minuteness
which would have detected a pin lying on top of them. A faint trail
leading through the wilderness is sometimes plainer a few steps distant
than it is beneath one's own feet. The disturbance of the vegetation,
the rumpling of the leaves resulting in the turning of the under side
toward the sun, and those trifling disarrangements which you or I would
never notice, can be identified by what may be called an off-hand
scrutiny, possibly on the same principle that a careless glance at
Pleiades will reveal each of the seven stars, when if the gaze is fixed
on the matchless group, one of them modestly shrinks from view.
There was no artifice known to the aboriginal brain which was not called
into use by the Sauk warrior. He stepped with the utmost care, so as to
disturb the leaves as little as possible. First of all, he gave his
attention to the space between the log and the river. That was short,
and its examination required but a brief time. Hay-uta seemed to suspect
that the trail would be found to lead toward the stream, but he was
disappointed, as not the slightest trace was discovered. I may as well
say that though the scrutiny was continued for half an hour, and
embraced a complete circle around the spot where the hat was found, it
resulted in no success at all. The conclusion was inevitable--so long a
time had passed since it was thrown to the ground, that every vestige of
the footprints had been obliterated.
Finally Hay-uta straightened up, and, looking in the expectant face of
Jack, shook his head. "I was afraid of it," said the boy, "so many days
have passed since he lost it, that nothing is left but to guess how it
all came about--and though I've done all the thinking I know how, I am
done."
Such was the fact. How it was that Otto Relstaub had come to leave his
hat lying there on the leaves was beyond the power of Jack Carleton to
tell. It could hardly be that he had done so voluntarily, for it was
impossible to conceive of a reason for it, and the probability that some
one else was the cause, only intensified those misgivings which, in a
greater or less degree, had tormented the young Kentuckian from the hour
he started to hunt for his missing friend.