The roar of the river, alternating with peals of thunder, which were now
loud and frequent, awake many an anxious pang in Roland's bosom, as he
lifted his half-unconscious kinswoman from the earth, and bore her to the
canoe; but his anxiety was much more increased when he came to survey
the little vessel itself, which was scarce twelve feet in length, and
seemed ill-fitted to sustain the weight of even half the party. It was,
besides, of the clumsiest and worst possible figure, a mere log, in fact,
roughly hollowed out, without any attempt having been made to point its
extremities; so that it looked less like a canoe than an ox-trough; which
latter purpose it was perhaps designed chiefly to serve, and intended to
be used for the former only when an occasional rise of the waters might
make a canoe necessary to the convenience of the maker. Such a vessel,
managed by a skilful hand, might indeed bear the two females, with honest
Ralph, through the foaming rapids below; but Roland felt, that to burden
it with others would be to insure the destruction of all. He resolved,
therefore, that no other should enter it; and, having deposited Telie Doe
in it by the side of Edith, he directed Dodge and Emperor to mount their
horses, and trust to their strength and courage for a safe escape. To
Emperor, whatever distaste he might have for the adventure, this was an
order, like all others, to be obeyed without murmuring; and, fortunately,
Pardon Dodge's humanity, or his discretion, was so strongly fortified by
his confidence in the swimming virtues of his steed, that he very readily
agreed to try his fortune on horseback.
"Anything to git round them everlasting varmint,--though it a'n't no sich
great circumstance to fight 'em neither, where one's a kinder got one's
hand in," he cried, with quite a joyous voice; and added, as if to
encourage the others,--"it's my idea, that, if such an old crazy boat can
swim the river, a hoss can do it a mortal heap better."
"'Tarnal death to me," said Ralph Stackpole, "them's got the grit that'll
go down old Salt on horseback! But it's all for the good of
anngelliferous madam: and so, if thar's any hard rubbing, or drowning, or
anything-of that synommous natur', to happen, it ar'n't a thing to be
holped no how. But hand in the guns and speechifiers, and make ready for
a go; for, 'tarnal death to me, the abbrygynes ar' making a rush for
the cabin!"
There was indeed little time left for deliberation. While Ralph was yet
speaking, a dozen or more flaming brands were suddenly seen flung into
the air, as if against the broken roof of the cabin, through which they
fell into the interior; and, with a tremendous whoop, the savages, thus
lighting the way to the assault, rushed against their fancied prey. The
next moment, there was heard a yell of disappointed rage and wonder,
followed by a rush of men into the ravine.
"Now, sodger," cried Ralph, "stick close to the trough; and if you ever
seed etarnity at midnight, you'll see a small sample now!"
With that, he pushed the canoe into the stream, and Roland, urging his
terrified steed with voice and spur, and leading his cousin's equally
alarmed palfrey, leaped in after him, calling to Dodge and Emperor to
follow. But how they followed, or whether they followed at all, it was
not easy at that moment to determine; for a bright flash of lightning,
glaring over the river, vanished suddenly, leaving all in double
darkness, and the impetuous rush of the current whirled him he knew not
whither; while the crash of the thunder that followed, prevented his
hearing any other noise, save the increasing and never absent roar of the
waters. Another flash illuminated the scene, and during its short-lived
radiance he perceived himself flying, as it almost seemed, through the
water, borne along by a furious current betwixt what appeared to him two
lofty walls of crag and forest, towards those obstructions in the
channel, which, in times of flood, converted the whole river into a
boiling caldron. They were masses of rock, among which had lodged rafts
of drift timber, forming a dam or barrier on either side of the river,
from which the descending floods were whirled into a central channel,
ample enough in the dry season to discharge the waters in quiet, but
through which they were now driven with all the hurry and rage of a
torrent. The scene, viewed in the momentary glare of the lightning, was
indeed terrific: the dark and rugged walls on either side, the ramparts
of timber of every shape and size, from the little willow sapling to the
full-grown sycamore piled high above the rocks, and the rushing gulf
betwixt them, made up a spectacle sufficient to appal the stoutest heart;
and Roland gasped for breath, as he beheld the little canoe whirl into
the narrow chasm, and then vanish, even before the light was over, as if
swallowed up in its boiling vortex.
But there was little time for fear or conjecture. He cast the rein of the
palfrey from his hand, directed Briareus's head towards the abyss, and
the next moment, sweeping in darkness and with the speed of an arrow,
betwixt the barriers, he felt his charger swimming beneath him in
comparatively tranquil waters. Another flash illumined hill and river,
and he beheld the little canoe dancing along in safety, scarce fifty
yards in advance, with Stackpole waving the tattered fragments of his hat
aloft, and yelling out a note of triumph. But the lusty hurrah was
unheard by the soldier. A more dreadful sound came to his ears from
behind, in a shriek that seemed uttered by the combined voices of men and
horses, and was heard even above the din of the torrent. But it was as
momentary as dreadful, and if a cry of agony, it was of agony that was
soon over. Its fatal cause was soon exhibited, when Roland, awakened by
the sound from the trance, which, during the brief moment of his passage
through the abyss, had chained his faculties, turned, by a violent jerk,
the head of his charger up the stream, in the instinctive effort to
render assistance to his less fortunate followers. A fainter flash than
before played upon the waters, and he beheld two or three dark masses,
like the bodies of horses, hurried by among the waves, whilst another, of
lesser bulk and human form, suddenly rose from the depth of the stream at
his side. This he instantly grasped in his hand, and dragged half across
his saddle-bow, when a broken, strangling exclamation, "Lorra-g-g-gor!"
made him aware that he had saved the life of the faithful Emperor.
"Clutch fast to the saddle," he cried; and the negro obeying with another
ejaculation, the soldier turned Briareus again down the stream, to look
for the canoe. But almost immediately his charger struck the ground; and
Roland, to his inexpressible joy, found himself landed upon a projecting
bank, on which the current had already swept the canoe, with its precious
freight, unharmed.
"If that ar'n't equal to coming down a strick of lightning," cried
Roaring Ralph, as he helped the soldier from the water, "thar's no legs
to a jumping bull-frog! Smash away, old bait!" he continued,
apostrophising with great exultation and self-admiration the river whose
terrors he had thus so successfully defied; "ar'n't I the gentleman for
you? Roar as much as you please;--when it comes to fighting for
anngelliferous madam, I can lick you, old Salt, 'tarnal death to me! And
so, anngelliferous madam, don't you car' a copper for the old crittur;
for thar's more in his bark than his bite. And as for the abbregynes, if
I've fout 'em enough for your satisfaction, we'll just say good-bye to
'em, and leave 'em to take the scalp off old Salt."
The consolation thus offered by the worthy captain of horse-thieves was
lost upon Edith, who, locked in the arms of her kinsman, and sensible of
her escape from the horrid danger that had so long surrounded her,
sensible also of the peril from which he had just been released, wept her
terrors away upon his breast, and for a moment almost forgot that her
sufferings were not yet over.
It was only for an instant that the young soldier indulged his joy. He
breathed a few words of comfort and encouragement, and then turned to
inquire after Dodge, whose gallant hearing in the hour of danger had
conquered the disgust he at first felt at his cowardice, and won upon his
gratitude and respect. But the Yankee appeared not, and the loud calls
Roland made for him were echoed only by the hoarse roar from the
barriers, now left far behind, and the thunder that yet pealed through
the sky. Nor could Emperor, when restored a little to his wits, which had
been greatly disturbed by his own perils in the river, give any
satisfactory account of his fate. He could only remember that the current
had borne himself against the logs, under which he had been swept, and
whirled he knew not whither until he found himself in the arms of his
master; and Dodge, who had rushed before him into the flood, he supposed,
had met a similar fate, but without the happy termination that marked his
own.
That the Yankee had indeed found his death among the roaring waters,
Roland could well believe, the wonder only being how the rest had escaped
in safety. Of the five horses, three only had reached the bank, Briareus
and the palfrey, which had fortunately followed Roland down the middle of
the chasm, and the horse of the unlucky Pardon. The others had been
either drowned among the logs, or swept down the stream.
A few moments sufficed to acquaint Roland with several losses; but he
took little time to lament them. The deliverance of his party was not yet
wholly effected, and every moment was to be improved, to put it, before
daylight, beyond the reach of pursuit. The captain of horse-thieves
avouched himself able to lead the way from the wilderness, to conduct the
travellers to a safe ford below, and thence through the woods, to the
rendezvous of the emigrants.
"Let it be anywhere," said Roland, "where there is safety; and let us not
delay a moment longer. Our remaining here can avail nothing to poor
Dodge."
With these words, he assisted his kinswoman upon her palfrey, placed
Telie Doe upon the horse of the unfortunate Yankee, and giving up his own
Briareus to the exhausted negro, prepared to resume his ill-starred
journey on foot. Then, taking post on the rear, he gave the signal to his
new guide; and once more the travellers were buried in the intricacies of
the forest.