ANOTHER NIGHT VISITOR.
Deerfoot the Shawanoe was convinced of one thing--the Wolf would trouble
him no further that night. What he might do in the future must be left
for the future to tell. Whether the few words that he had dropped should
prove the good seed of which I have spoken, or whether they should be
choked up by thorns, not even the Wolf himself could tell.
The young warrior showed his convictions by flinging some wood on the
fire, so that its blaze filled the cavern, and preparing for sleep. He
first sat down and pulled out the knife of the Wolf, whose blade took on
an additional gleam from the cleansing it had received in being forced
into the flinty earth. He examined it with no little curiosity, though
it was similar to his own.
A glance, however, showed that it was an inch or two longer. It was
straight and oval-shaped, the blade not quite two inches wide, with a
handle that had been cut from a deer's horn and fitted with no slight
skill. Whether it was the product of aboriginal ingenuity or was the
work of some cutler of the Caucasian race could only be guessed, the
matter really not being worth the trouble of guessing. Its two edges and
the point were very sharp. Deerfoot having laid aside his gun, grasped
the blade in his left hand and circled it through the air like a
swordsman at play. He was so pleased with it that he decided to keep it.
He would not throw away the one that had served him so well, but would
present it to Fred Linden, while he retained the one with which he was
sure he could do better work.
It was singular that while the Shawanoe was turning the weapon over in
his hand, and examining it with so much interest, that the occasion for
its immediate use should come, but so it was.
He was on the point of shoving it in behind his belt and lying down to
sleep, when a movement of the bushes outside was heard. It was so
distinct indeed that he knew it was not caused by a person.
The rustling was accompanied by a scratching sound and low growl.
Turning his head, he saw an immense wolf standing at the entrance of the
cavern, his whole figure revealed in the firelight. With his jaws parted
and his form erect, he was a formidable creature, before which almost
any one would have recoiled. He would have advanced straight to an
attack upon the young warrior but for the fire which partly interposed.
Even as it was, he seemed making ready to leap at the throat of the
youth, who was sitting on the blanket, looking coolly at him.
It would have been the easiest matter in the world for Deerfoot to catch
up his gun and shoot him dead, but he chose to do otherwise. Drawing one
of the embers forth by the end that was not burning, he held it before
him in his right hand, and, grasping the knife in his left, ran lightly
toward him, as though he meant to jam it into his eyes.
The bravest animal can not stand unmoved before such an attack, and the
namesake of the human enemy whisked about and darted out of the cavern
with the Shawanoe close behind him. The former bounded a half dozen
steps, pausing on the very spot where the hostile warrior was first
seen, and facing about, as if to observe whether his foe dare follow him
any further. But Deerfoot had him now where he wished, and he flung the
torch aside among the undergrowth, where it lay smoking for a few
minutes before it went out.
The fierce animal must have been of the opinion that he too had his
antagonist where he wanted him, for, without the least hesitation, he
uttered a snarling growl and made two leaps straight at him. The first
carried him a little more than half the intervening distance, and the
second was meant to bear Deerfoot to the earth.
The young warrior, however, stepped lightly to one side, so that the
wolf missed him altogether, and would have been forced to wheel about
and make a second attack had the chance been given him, but at the
instant it landed, the left hand, grasping the long, keen knife, shot
forward with great force and lightning-like swiftness, and was buried to
the hilt in the throat of the brute.
It was a blow as effective as a cannon ball could have been, for the
knife clove the seat of life in twain, and the beast rolled over on the
earth dead, almost before it could emit a single yelp of agony.
Deerfoot stood a moment surveying the carcass before him, and then, with
no more excitement than he would have shown in speaking to Fred or
Terry, he said: "'Tis a good weapon, and will serve Deerfoot well."
Then he walked to the tiny brook, carefully washed the gleaming blade,
shoved it behind his belt, where it was held in place without the sheath
that clasped the other, and walked back to the cavern. The boys had not
been disturbed by the outcry of the wolf, and Deerfoot, throwing some
more wood on the flames, lay down on the blanket, drew it partly about
him, and in ten minutes was asleep, not opening his eyes again until the
light of morning streamed into the cavern and only a few smoldering
embers were left of the camp-fire.
He smiled when he looked upon the two youths, who were still soundly
sleeping, all unconscious of the stirring events that had taken place
during the darkness. There was no call for a renewal of the fire, and,
after spending a few minutes in communion with the Great Spirit, he
passed outside the cavern, drank from the clear water in the brook, and
laved his face and hands.
Just as he finished, Fred Linden emerged, rubbing his eyes and yawning,
while Terry Clark was close behind him.
"Good morning, Deerfoot!" called the former; "it was just like you to
let us sleep all night while you kept watch: to-night you must let us
take our turn."
"Fred has exprissed me own sintimints," added Terry; "we have had so
much slumber that we can kaap awake for a month. Helloa!"
The gaze of the boys at that moment fell on the body of the wolf,
stiffened in death.
"You have had visitors," said Fred; "my gracious, but he's a big fellow!
Killed by a knife thrust too, that looks as if it had gone half way
through his body; how was it, Deerfoot?"
The Shawanoe waited until they had finished bathing their hands and
faces, and then he quietly told them the story, including the account of
the warrior's visit. As you may well suppose, the boys opened their
eyes, and Terry, running inside, brought out the blanket, which had been
folded in such a manner that the knife of the Winnebago passed through
three thicknesses of the cloth.
"And to think that we slept through it all!"
"Begorrah, but wasn't it lucky that we didn't have the blanket wrapped
about us?" gasped Terry, who was in earnest in his momentary belief of
the narrow escape of himself and companion.
"It is well that you kept guard last night; neither of us would have
heard the approach of the Winnebago; and wouldn't have known any thing
about the other wolf until he lit on our shoulders."
"My brother is mistaken," said Deerfoot; "he is like the rattlesnake; he
gives warning before he strikes; I heard him growl, and he stopped at
the entrance to the cavern, afraid of the fire."
"Why didn't you shoot him?"
"Would he have died more quietly, or with less pain than from the knife?
It is the knife that the Winnebago left; Deerfoot wanted to learn
whether it would serve him well."
"And I should think ye ought to be satisfied, as a cousin of me own once
remarked after working five years for a man without any pay excipt
starvation and kicks."
"The knife proved itself a good one," said Fred; "but the poorest knife
would be just as effective in your hands."
Deerfoot withdrew his own weapon from its skin sheath, and handed it to
Fred.
"Let my brother carry that, for the hour may come sooner than he thinks
when it will be of use to him."
Fred accepted it gratefully, saying, as he managed to find place for it
somewhat after the manner of Deerfoot:
"If I can handle it with half of your skill, it will serve me well
indeed, but that can never be."
Deerfoot placed the larger weapon within the sheath from which he had
withdrawn his own and made no reply to the compliments of his friends.
He had heard many such before, but he placed no value upon them. He
regarded himself as simply trying to use in the best way the gifts of
the Great Spirit. His many escapes from death and injury were due solely
to God's protecting care, and he could never take to himself any credit
for what he did.
The excitement of the boys having subsided, the three sat down in front
of the cavern to eat their breakfast. Enough of the food brought by Fred
was left to give each and all the meal needed, but when they were
through, not a particle was left; henceforth they must depend upon what
their rifles brought them for support while on the way to the camp in
the Ozarks.
"We have two or three days' travel yet before we can reach camp," said
Fred, while they were making ready to resume their journey; "but I don't
think we shall want for food. What troubles me the most is that scamp of
a Winnebago. You have spared him twice, but I don't believe it will
make a friend of him."
"He was so boilin' mad," added Terry, "because he lost his gun that now
that he has also lost his knife he may get so much madder that he'll
flop over and become pleased again."
This, however, was a kind of philosophy to which the others could not
agree. Deerfoot owned that he was in doubt; the sentiment of gratitude
is not one of the chief virtues of the American race, though many
story-tellers would have us believe that it is. There have been
instances known where a red man has shown something of the kind, but as
a rule they have no more of it than had the frozen serpent that was
warmed in the bosom of him who proved his foolishness by making the
experiment.