A FIGHT AND A RETREAT.
That which Otto had called a cave proved really no cave at all. Up the
winding ascent the fugitives sped, until opposite a lip or shelf, which
projected from the rocks on their left. It extended forward three or
four feet, rudely sloping away like the forepiece of a cap, but the
concavity below was less than half that depth. Jack expected to find a
retreat ten or fifteen feet deep. As it was, there was barely room to
screen themselves from the flying bullets, and had the rain been driven
from the opposite direction when Otto first sought refuge there it would
have given no protection at all.
Jack was half disposed to continue his flight over the ridge, but
fearful of the greater peril to which they would be exposed, and alarmed
by the knowledge that their enemies were almost on their heels, he
darted to the left, and stood with his back against the rocky wall,
grasping his loaded and cocked rifle, ready to fire on appearance of the
pursuers. Otto did the same, and, taking a position beside him, began
reloading his weapon.
The hostiles did not stop, but hastened up the rough gorge, and in a
twinkling the foremost dashed into sight. Quick as Jack was in bringing
his gun to his shoulder, some one else anticipated him. The red man
bounded high in air, with the inevitable death shriek, and went over
backward, his body pierced clean through with an arrow driven with
resistless force from the bow of Deerfoot, the Shawanoe.
This checked the rush of the other two, who found, what they ought to
have known before, that the "Evil One" was on hand. They turned and ran
at break-neck speed down the slope, vanishing with a swiftness that
rendered it almost impossible for Deerfoot to bring down either of them
had he been so disposed. Rapid as was their charge up the slope, their
descent was a great deal more rapid.
Directly behind the arrow came Deerfoot, landing in the presence of the
youths with such suddenness that Jack half raised his gun under the
belief that he was an enemy.
Otto was so startled that he spilled the powder he was pouring into the
barrel of his rifle, and the young Shawanoe smiled and said:
"My brother is not glad to see Deerfoot."
"I ishn't! you shust waits till I gots dis gun loaded."
Working rapidly, he soon had the charge rammed home and the weapon
primed for action. Then, leaning it against the wall, he impulsively
threw his arms around the neck of the Shawanoe and kissed him on the
cheek.
Jack Carleton was horrified, supposing the young warrior would be
offended, but he smiled in a way which showed he was pleased with the
honest fellow, who was not ashamed to show the affection he felt.
During the brief moments spent in pleasant interchange, Deerfoot was
never quiet. His eyes were continually flitting hither and thither, and
he glanced right and left, as though expecting some person or the
occurrence of some event. The fact was, that, although the Indians who
made the rash attack had fled, the Shawanoe was by no means satisfied.
He reflected, that while only the four warriors had been seen, it was
more than likely that others were within call.
There was no good reason for tarrying on the slope, and, as soon as Otto
had finished loading his gun, Deerfoot signified they were to leave. For
a brief spell nothing was to be feared from the panic-smitten Indians,
but the Shawanoe glanced furtively down the gorge before leaving the
partial shelter of the excavation in the rocks. Then they moved hastily
to the top of the ridge, where a stop was made until all could take a
survey of the surrounding country. This was an important matter, and
Deerfoot did it in his usual thorough fashion, his eyes taking in the
whole horizon.
The elevation of the ridge, and the sparse vegetation on the crest, gave
the Shawanoe the best kind of an observatory, and he gained an extensive
knowledge of the vast expanse of surrounding country.
Looking toward the south-east, the three saw a somewhat similar ridge,
though less in extent. It seemed more than ten miles distant, and the
attention with which Deerfoot regarded it showed that he was meditating
some scheme in connection with it. It took him but a minute or two to
form a conclusion. Then he scrutinized the territory in the opposite
direction. Toward that point he was looking for enemies: it was there
the Pawnee party was in camp or hunting back and forth.
Deerfoot was able to trace the river, on the other shore of which had
been kindled the camp-fire of the Pawnees, but he could discover nothing
of the warriors themselves. More than likely some of them identified the
little party on the slope, and took good care to keep themselves out of
sight.
Both Jack and Otto wondered at the absence of Hay-uta, the Sauk. He had
been absent much longer than Deerfoot, and the report of guns and shouts
of the Pawnees must have told him the same story which brought the
Shawanoe in such haste to the spot.
Once more Deerfoot faced the distant ridge in the south-east Pointing
toward it, he said:
"Let my brothers make haste thither, and wait for the coming of
Deerfoot."
"What's the matter now?" asked Jack; "why don't you go with us?"
"The Pawnees are on our trail; they will follow fast; my brothers must
make haste while Hay-uta and Deerfoot tarry."
A few words made clear the plan of Deerfoot. The Pawnees, like all their
race, were extremely revengeful in their disposition, and they would
never consent that the four intruders should be allowed to go back
without punishment. They had slain several of their warriors, without
receiving any injury in return. What though the Evil One, in the guise
of a young Shawanoe, had charge of the little party, neither he nor they
were invulnerable, and the well-aimed bullet must be more effective than
the arrow of the matchless archer Deerfoot.
An additional incentive to pursuit lay in the fact that the Pawnees had
learned of the trick that Otto Relstaub played on them. His presence in
his own flesh and blood was evidence that could not be disputed. These
and other considerations, which it is not necessary to give in detail,
convinced Deerfoot that a sharp pursuit would be made by the hostiles.
Such a pursuit would be pushed at a pace which neither of the pale-faced
youths could equal; they were certain to be overtaken unless skillful
strategy was employed.
The Shawanoe, therefore, directed the boys to make for the ridge which
he pointed out in the south-east. He told them to use all haste and
reach it at the earliest possible moment. It was probable they could not
do so before dark, but he impressed upon them the duty of making no halt
until their arrival there. If darkness overtook them while several miles
away in the woods, they must push on. Both, and especially the young
Kentuckian, had had enough experience to know how to maintain a straight
course when the sun was not shining.
Deerfoot expected to join them before daylight, but in the event of his
failing to do so, they were forbidden to wait for him. At the earliest
dawn, they were to press their flight, and keep it up to the utmost
limit until nightfall. If by that time no further molestation resulted,
they might consider all danger ended, so far as that particular party of
Pawnees was concerned.
Deerfoot instructed the two friends to resort to every expedient to hide
their trail. When they reached a stream, they were never to cross it by
a direct line, but, if possible, wade a considerable distance before
stepping out on the other bank. If they should find their path crossed
by any thing in the nature of a river, they were to make a raft and
float a long distance with the current, before resting their feet again
on dry land.
It followed, as a matter of course, that all this strategy designed to
throw the hostiles off the trail, ought to be equally effective against
Sauk and Shawanoe; but the latter made necessary provisions against
going astray. He had a clear understanding with Jack as to the distance
he was to follow a small stream before leaving it on the other side,
and, in case a river was reached, it was agreed that the youths were to
drift downward a half mile. Then, when they emerged, a sign was to be
left in the shape of a broken limb, dipping in the current. Such
evidence would be detected at once by the Shawanoe from the opposite
side of the bank--that is, if he had the daylight to assist him, and he
could easily arrange _that_.
The sagacity of Deerfoot enabled him to provide against almost every
contingency, and the time which he took in making such provision was but
a fraction of that which I have consumed in the telling. Within three
minutes after he directed them what they were to do, they were traveling
down the slope, with their faces toward the distant ridge, and their
feet carrying them rapidly in that direction.
Each of the boys understood the scheme of Deerfoot, and lost no time in
speculating over its final issue. In fact the rule of invariable success
seemed to apply so forcibly to every thing which he undertook that I am
warranted in saying that neither felt any fear when he left the ridge
and plunged into the forest stretching so many miles beyond.
"You have never seen Hay-uta," said Jack, after they had walked some
ways, the Kentuckian taking the lead.
"No," replied Otto, walking faster than was his custom.
"He is a Sauk, and one of the five who went off with you when we parted
from each other."
"Den I dinks I seen him," was the natural remark of the grinning German.
"Of course you have seen him very often, as he has seen you, but you
never heard his name Hay-uta, and won't recognize him from any
description I give you."
"Why not?" queried his companion.
"It seems to me," replied Jack with a laugh, "that all negro babies and
all Indian warriors look so much alike that no one can describe the
difference. I have seen a great many Sauks, but it was hard work to tell
them apart when they were a little ways off. Some of them were so
hideous that they could be identified by their appearance, as others
could by the scars on their features or the particular style they had of
painting their faces."
Otto naturally wanted to know how it was that a Sauk had come to be the
ally of a Shawanoe, and why, when Hay-uta was any thing but a friend of
Otto, he should travel so far and run into so much danger for the sake
of rescuing him.
You and I know the explanation, and so it is not required that I should
repeat the story of Hay-uta's encounter with Deerfoot in the depths of
the wilderness, when the Shawanoe vanquished the warrior, overcoming not
only his physical prowess but his hatred, and how the words fitly spoken
at that time had proven to be seed sowed on good ground which was
already springing up and bearing fruit.
The boys became so interested in the subject that they involuntarily
slackened their gait, while they discussed the incident and recalled the
gentle reproofs which Deerfoot had given them more than once. It is at
such times that we feel the prickings of conscience, and both Otto and
Jack asked themselves the question: If this American Indian, born and
nursed as a heathen, was so quick to grasp the Word, what excuse shall
we offer in the last day when God shall demand of us why, with a hundred
fold more light, we persisted in rejecting him?