THE FACE IN THE FIRELIGHT
Sudden disaster usually brings sudden calm, the pause before resolution
or resignation. For the first instant after the shock of the boat upon
the impaling snag I stood irresolute; the next, I was busy with plans
for escape. Running down the companionway, I found myself among a crowd
of excited deck hands, most of whom, with many of the passengers, were
pushing toward the starboard rail, whence could be seen the gloom of the
forest along shore. The gangway door on the opposite side of the boat
was open, and as I looked out I could see the long white arms of the
giant snag reaching alongside. Without much plan or premeditation I
sprang out, and making good my hold upon the nearest limb as I plunged,
found myself, to my surprise, standing in not more than four feet of
water, the foot of the bar evidently running down well under the boat.
Just as I turned to call to others I saw the tall figure of my
plainsman, Auberry, appear at the doorway, and he also, with scarcely a
moment's deliberation, took a flying leap and joined me on the snag.
"It's better here than there," he said, "if she sinks or busts, and
they're allus likely to do both."
As we pulled ourselves up into the fork of the long naked branch we
heard a voice, and saw the face of a woman leaning over the rail of the
upper deck. I recognized my whilom friend, Mandy McGovern. "Whut you all
doin' down there?" she called. "Wait a minute; I'm comin', too." A
moment later she appeared at the opening of the lower deck and craned
out her long neck. I then saw at her side the figure of a young woman,
her hair fallen from its coils, her feet bare, her body wrapped
apparently only in some light silken dressing to be thrown above her
nightwear. She, too, looked out into the darkness, but shrank back.
"Here, you," called out Mandy McGovern, "git hold of the end of this
rope."
She tossed to me the end of the gang-plank rope, by which the sliding
stage was drawn out and in at the boat landings. I caught this and
passed it over a projection on the snag.
"Now, haul it out," commanded she; and as we pulled, she pushed, so that
presently indeed we found that the end reached the edge of the limb on
which we sat. Without any concern, Mrs. McGovern stepped out on the
swaying bridge, sunbonnet hanging down her back, her long rifle under
one arm, while by the other hand she dragged her tall son, Andrew
Jackson, who was blubbering in terror.
This bridge, however, proved insecure, for as Mandy gave Andrew Jackson
a final yank at its farther end, the latter stumbled, and in his
struggles to lay hold upon the snag, pushed the end of the planks off
their support. His mother's sinewy arm thrust him into safety, and she
herself clambered up, very wet and very voluble in her imprecations on
his clumsiness.
"Thar, now, look what ye did, ye low-down coward," she said. "Like to
'a' drownded both of us, and left the gal back there on the boat!"
The gang plank, confined by the rope, swung in the current alongside the
snag, but it seemed useless to undertake to restore it to its position.
The girl cowered against the side of the deck opening, undecided.
"Wait," I called out to her; and slipping down into the water again, I
waded as close as I could to the door, the water then catching me close
to the shoulders.
"Jump!" I said to her, holding out my arms.
"I can't--I'm afraid," she said, in a voice hardly above a whisper.
"Do as I tell you!" I roared, in no gentle tones, I fear. "Jump at
once!" She stooped, and sprang, and as I caught her weight with my arms
under hers, she was for the moment almost immersed; but I staggered
backwards and managed to hold my footing till Auberry's arms reached us
from the snag, up which we clambered, the girl dripping wet and catching
her breath in terror.
"That's right," said Mandy McGovern, calmly, "now here we be, all of us.
Now, you men, git hold of this here rope an' haul up them boards, an'
make a seat for us."
Auberry and I found it difficult to execute this order, for the current
of old Missouri, thrusting against so large an object, was incredibly
strong; but at last, little by little edging the heavy staging up over
the limb of the snag, we got its end upon another fork and so made a
ticklish support, half in and half out of the water.
"That's better," said Mandy, climbing upon it. "Now come here, you pore
child. You're powerful cold." She gathered the girl between her knees as
she sat. "Here, you man, give me your coat," she said to me; and I
complied, wishing it were not so wet.
None on the boat seemed to have any notion of what was going on upon our
side of the vessel. We heard many shouts and orders, much trampling of
feet, but for the most part on the opposite part of the boat. Then at
once we heard the engines reverse, and were nearly swept from our
insecure hold upon the snag by the surges kicked up under the wheel. The
current caught the long underbody of the boat as she swung. We heard
something rip and splinter and grate; and then the boat, backing free
from the snag, gradually slipped down from the bar and swept into the
current under steam again.
Not so lucky ourselves, for this wrenching free of the boat had torn
loose the long imbedded roots of the giant snag, and the plowing current
getting under the vast flat back of matted roots, now slowly forced it,
grinding and shuddering, down from the toe of the bar. With a sullen
roll it settled down into new lines as it reached the deeper water. Then
the hiss of the water among the branches ceased. Rolling and swaying, we
were going with the current, fully afloat on the yellow flood of the
Missouri!
I held my breath for a moment, fearing lest the snag might roll over
entirely; but no concern seemed to reach the mind of our friend Mrs.
McGovern. "It's all right," said she, calmly. "No use gittin' skeered
till the time comes. Boat's left us, so I reckon we'd better be gittin'
somewhere for ourselves. You, Andrew Jackson, dem yer fool soul, if you
don't quit snivelin' I'll throw you off into the worter."
Looking across the stream I could see the lights of the _River Belle_
swing gradually into a longer line, and presently heard the clanging of
her bells as she came to a full stop, apparently tied up along shore.
From that direction the current seemed to come toward us with a long
slant, so that as we dropped down stream, we also edged away.
We had traveled perhaps three quarters of a mile, when I noticed the dim
loom of trees on our side of the stream, and saw that we were
approaching a long point which ran out below us. This should have been
the deep side of the river, but no one can account for the vagaries of
the Missouri. When we were within a hundred yards or so of the point, we
felt a long shuddering scrape under us, and after a series of slips and
jerks, our old snag came to anchor again, its roots having once more
laid hold upon a bar. The sand-wash seemed to have been deflected by the
projecting mass of a heap of driftwood which I now saw opposite to us,
its long white arms reaching out toward those of our floating craft.
Once more the hissing of the water began among the buried limbs, and
once more the snag rolled ominously, and then lay still, its giant,
naked trunk, white and half submerged, reaching up stream fifty feet
above us. We were apparently as far from safety as ever, although almost
within touch of shore.
It occurred to me that as I had been able to touch bottom on the other
bar, I might do so here. I crawled back along the trunk of the snag to a
place as near the roots as I could reach, and letting myself down
gently, found that I could keep my footing on the sand.
"Look out there! boy," cried Auberry to me. "This river's dangerous. If
it takes you down, swim for the shore. Don't try to get back here." We
could see that the set of the current below ran close inshore, although
doubtless the water there was very deep.
Little by little I edged up the stream, and found presently that the
water shoaled toward the heap of driftwood. It dropped off, I know not
how deep, between the edge of the bar and the piled drift; but standing
no more than waist deep; I could reach the outer limbs of the drift and
saw that they would support my weight. After that I waded back to the
snag carefully, and once more ordered the young woman to come to me.
She came back along the naked and slippery trunk of the snag, pulling
herself along by her hands, her bare feet and limbs deep in the water
alongside. I could hear the sob of her intaken breath, and saw that she
trembled in fright.
"Come," I said, as she finally reached the mass of the roots. And more
dead than alive, it seemed to me, she fell once more into my arms. I
felt her grasp tighten about my neck, and her firm body crowd against me
as we both sank down for an instant. Then I caught my feet and
straightened, and was really the steadier for the added weight, as any
one knows who has waded in fast water. Little by little I edged up on
the bar, quite conscious of her very gracious weight, but sure we should
thus reach safety.
"Put me down," she said at length, as she saw the water shoaling. It was
hip deep to me, but waist deep to her; and I felt her shudder as she
caught its chill. Her little hand gripped tight to mine.
By this time the others had also descended from the snag. I saw old
Auberry plunging methodically along, at his side Mrs. McGovern, clasping
the hand of her son. "Come on here, you boy," she said. "What ye skeered
of? Tall as you air, you could wade the whole Missouri without your hair
gettin' wet. Come along!"
"Get up, Auberry," I said to him as he approached, and motioned to the
long, overhanging branches from the driftwood. He swung up, breaking off
the more insecure boughs, and was of the belief that we could get across
in that way. As he reached down, I swung the young woman up to him, and
she clambered on as best she could. Thus, I scarce know how, we all
managed to reach the solid drift, and so presently found ourselves
ashore, on a narrow, sandy beach, hedged on the back by a heavy growth
of willows.
"Now then, you men," ordered Mandy McGovern, "get some wood out and
start a fire, right away. This here girl is shaking the teeth plumb
out'n her head."
Auberry and I had dragged some wood from the edge of the drift and
pulled it into a heap near by, before we realized that neither of us had
matches.
"Humph!" snorted our leader, feeling in her pockets. She drew forth two
flasks, each stoppered with a bit of corncob. The one held sulphur
matches, thus kept quite dry, and this she passed to me. The other she
handed to the young woman.
"Here," said she, "take a drink of that. It'll do you good."
I heard the girl gasp and choke as she obeyed this injunction; and then
Mandy applied the bottle gurglingly to her own lips.
"I've got a gallon of that back there on the boat," said Auberry
ruefully.
"Heap of good it'll do you there," remarked Mandy. "Looks to me like you
all never did travel much. Fer me, I always go heeled. Wherever I gits
throwed, there my rifle, and my matches, and my licker gits throwed
_too_! Now I'll show you how to, light a fire."
Presently we had a roaring blaze started, which added much to the
comfort of all, for the chill of night was over the river, despite the
fact that this was in the springtime. Mandy seated herself comfortably
upon a log, and producing a corncob pipe and a quantity of natural leaf
tobacco, proceeded to enjoy herself in her own fashion. "This here's all
right," she remarked. "We might be a heap worse off'n we air."
I could not help pitying the young woman who crouched near her at the
fireside, still shivering; she seemed so young and helpless and so out
of place in such surroundings. As presently the heat of the flame made
her more comfortable, she began to tuck back the tumbled locks of her
hair, which I could see was thick and dark. The firelight showed in
silhouette the outlines of her face. It seemed to me I had never seen
one more beautiful. I remembered the round firmness of her body in my
arms, the clasp of her hands about my neck, her hair blown across my
cheek, and I reflected that since fortune had elected me to be a
rescuer, it was not ill that so fair an object had been there for the
rescuing.
Perhaps she felt my gaze, for presently she turned and said to me, in as
pleasant a speaking voice as I had ever heard, "Indeed, it might be
worse. I thank you so much. It was very brave of you."
"Listen at that!" grunted Mandy McGovern. "What'd them men have to do
with it? Where'd you all be now if it wasn't for me?"
"You'd be much better off," I ventured, "if I hadn't done any rescuing
at all, and if we'd all stayed over there on the boat." I pointed to the
lights of the _River Belle_, lying on the opposite shore, something like
a mile above us.
"We're all right now," said old Auberry after a time. "If we can't get
across to the boat, it's only four or five miles up to the settlements
on this side, opposite the old Independence landing."
"I couldn't walk," said the girl. She shyly looked down at the edge of
her thin wrapper, and I saw the outline of an uncovered toe.
"Here, ma'am," said Auberry, unknotting from his neck a heavy bandana.
"This is the best I can do. You and the woman see if you can tie up your
feet somehow."
The girl hesitated, laughed, and took the kerchief. She and Mandy bent
apart, and I heard the ripping of the handkerchief torn across. The girl
turned back to the fire and put out a little foot for us to see, muffled
now in the red folds of the kerchief. Her thin garments by this time
were becoming dry, and her spirits now became more gay. She fell into a
ready comradeship with us.
As she stood at the fire, innocent of its defining light, I saw that she
was a beautiful creature, apparently about twenty years of age. Given
proper surroundings, I fancied, here was a girl who might make trouble
for a man. Eyes like hers, I imagined, had before this set some man's
heart astir; and one so fair as she never waited long in this world for
admirers.
She stooped and spread out her hands before the flames. I could see that
her hands were small and well formed, could see the firelight shine pink
at the inner edges of her fingers. On one finger, as I could not avoid
noticing, was a curious ring of plain gold. The setting, also of gold,
was deeply cut into the figure of a rose. I recalled that I had never
seen a ring just similar. Indeed, it seemed to me, as I stole a furtive
glance at her now and then, I had never seen a girl just similar.
[Illustration: THEY FOUGHT FURIOUSLY THE YELLING CHARGING REDSKIN
WARRIORS]
[Illustration: THE WAGONS DRAW INTO A DEFENSIVE CIRCLE]
We had waited perhaps not over an hour at our fireside, undecided what
to do, when Auberry raised a hand. "Listen," he said. "There's a boat
coming"; and presently we all heard the splash of oars. Our fire had
been seen by one of the boats of the _River Belle_, out picking up such
stragglers as could be found.
"Hello, there!" called a rough voice to us, as the boat grated at our
beach. Auberry and I walked over and found that it was the mate of the
boat, with a pair of oarsmen in a narrow river skiff.
"How many's there of you?" asked the mate--"Five?--I can't take you
all."
"All right," said Auberry, "this gentleman and I will walk up to the
town on this side. You take the women and the boy. We'll send down for
our things in the morning, if you don't come up."
So our little bivouac on the beach came to an end. A moment later the
passengers were embarked, and Auberry and I, standing at the bow, were
about to push off the boat for them.
"A moment, sir," exclaimed our friend of the fireside, rising and
stepping toward me as I stood alongside the boat. "You are forgetting
your coat."
She would have taken it from her shoulders, but I forbade it. She
hesitated, and finally said, "I thank you so much"; holding out her
hand.
I took it. It was a small hand, with round fingers, firm of clasp. I
hate a hard-handed woman, or one with mushy fingers, but this, as it
seemed to me, was a hand excellently good to clasp--warm now, and no
longer trembling in the terrors of the night.
"I do not know your name, sir," she said, "but I should like my father
to thank you some day."
"All ready!" cried the mate.
"My name is Cowles," I began, "and sometime, perhaps--"
"All aboard!" cried the mate; and so the oars gave way.
So I did not get the name of the girl I had seen there in the firelight.
What did remain--and that not wholly to my pleasure, so distinct it
seemed--was the picture of her high-bred profile, shown in chiaroscuro
at the fireside, the line of her chin and neck, the tumbled masses of
her hair. These were things I did not care to remember; and I hated
myself as a soft-hearted fool, seeing that I did so.
"Son," said old Auberry to me, after a time, as we trudged along up the
bank, stumbling over roots and braided grasses, "that was a almighty
fine lookin' gal we brung along with us there."
"I didn't notice," said I.
"No," said Auberry, solemnly, "I noticed you didn't take no notice; so
you can just take my judgment on it, which I allow is safe. Are you a
married man?"
"Not yet," I said.
"You might do a heap worse than that gal," said Auberry.
"I suppose you're married yourself," I suggested.
"Some," said Auberry, chuckling in the dark. "In fact, a good deal, I
reckon. My present woman's a Shoshone--we're livin' up Horse Creek,
below Laramie. Them Shoshones make about the best dressers of 'em all."
"I don't quite understand--"
"I meant hides. They can make the best buckskin of any tribe I know." He
walked on ahead in the dark for some time, before he added irrelevantly,
"Well, after all, in some ways, women is women, my son, and men is men;
that bein' the way this world is made just at these here present times.
As I was sayin', that's a powerful nice lookin' gal."
I shuddered in my soul. I glanced up at the heavens, studded thick with
stars. It seemed to me that I saw gazing down directly at me one cold,
bright, reproving star, staring straight into my soul, and accusing me
of being nothing more than a savage, nothing better than a man.