"The Pale-faces hunt very late," he said, with a
malicious grin. "Do they love the dark better than
the sunshine?"
"Not so," replied Joe, coolly; "but we love to
walk by the light of the moon. It will be up in less
than an hour, and we mean to take a long ramble to-night."
"The Pawnee chief loves to walk by the moon, too;
he will go with the Pale-faces."
"Good!" ejaculated Joe. "Come along, then."
The party immediately set forward, although the
savage was a little taken by surprise at the indifferent
way in which Joe received his proposal to accompany
them. He walked on to the edge of the prairie, however,
and then stopped.
"The Pale-faces must go alone," said he; "Mahtawa
will return to his tent."
Joe replied to this intimation by seizing him suddenly
by the throat and choking back the yell that would
otherwise have brought the Pawnee warriors rushing to
the scene of action in hundreds. Mahtawa's hand was
on the handle of his scalping-knife in a moment, but
before he could draw it his arms were glued to his sides
by the bear-like embrace of Henri, while Dick tied a
handkerchief quickly yet firmly round his mouth. The
whole thing was accomplished in two minutes. After
taking his knife and tomahawk away, they loosened
their gripe and escorted him swiftly over the prairie.
Mahtawa was perfectly submissive after the first
convulsive struggle was over. He knew that the men
who walked on each side of him grasping his arms were
more than his match singly, so he wisely made no resistance.
Hurrying him to a clump of small trees on the plain
which was so far distant from the village that a yell
could not be heard, they removed the bandage from
Mahtawa's mouth.
"
Must
he be kill?" inquired Henri, in a tone of
commiseration.
"Not at all," answered Joe; "we'll tie him to a tree
and leave him here."
"Then he vill be starve to deat'. Oh, dat is more
horrobell!"
"He must take his chance o' that. I've no doubt
his friends'll find him in a day or two, an' he's game
to last for a week or more. But you'll have to run to
the willow bluff, Dick, and bring a bit of line to tie him.
We can't spare it well; but there's no help."
"But there
is
help," retorted Dick. "Just order the
villain to climb into that tree."
"Why so, lad?"
"Don't ask questions, but do what I bid ye."
The hunter smiled for a moment as he turned to the
Indian, and ordered him to climb up a small tree near
to which he stood. Mahtawa looked surprised, but
there was no alternative. Joe's authoritative tone
brooked no delay, so he sprang into the tree like a
monkey.
"Crusoe," said Dick, "
watch him!
"
The dog sat quietly down at the foot of the tree, and
fixed his eyes on the savage with a glare that spoke
unutterable things. At the same time he displayed his
full complement of teeth, and uttered a sound like
distant thunder.
Joe almost laughed, and Henri did laugh outright.
"Come along; he's safe now," cried Dick, hurrying
away in the direction of the willow bluff, which they
soon reached, and found that the faithful squaw had
tied their steeds to the bushes, and, moreover, had
bundled up their goods into a pack, and strapped it on
the back of the pack-horse; but she had not remained
with them.
"Bless yer dark face!" ejaculated Joe, as he sprang
into the saddle and rode out of the clump of bushes.
He was followed immediately by the others, and in
three minutes they were flying over the plain at full
speed.
On gaining the last far-off ridge, that afforded a
distant view of the woods skirting the Pawnee camp,
they drew up; and Dick, putting his fingers to his
mouth, drew a long, shrill whistle.
It reached the willow bluff like a faint echo. At the
same moment the moon arose and more clearly revealed
Crusoe's cataleptic glare at the Indian chief, who, being
utterly unarmed, was at the dog's mercy. The instant
the whistle fell on his ear, however, he dropped his eyes,
covered his teeth, and, leaping through the bushes, flew
over the plains like an arrow. At the same instant
Mahtawa, descending from his tree, ran as fast as he
could towards the village, uttering the terrible war-whoop
when near enough to be heard. No sound sends
such a thrill through an Indian camp. Every warrior
flew to arms, and vaulted on his steed. So quickly
was the alarm given that in less than ten minutes a
thousand hoofs were thundering on the plain, and
faintly reached the ears of the fugitives.
Joe smiled. "It'll puzzle them to come up wi' nags
like ours. They're in prime condition, too--lots o' wind
in' em. If we only keep out o' badger holes we may
laugh at the red varmints."
Joe's opinion of Indian horses was correct. In a very
few minutes the sound of hoofs died away; but the
fugitives did not draw bridle during the remainder of
that night, for they knew not how long the pursuit
might be continued. By pond, and brook, and bluff
they passed, down in the grassy bottoms and over the
prairie waves--nor checked their headlong course till
the sun blazed over the level sweep of the eastern plain
as if it arose out of the mighty ocean.
Then they sprang from the saddle, and hastily set
about the preparation of their morning meal.
Evening meditations and morning reflections--Buffaloes, badgers,antelopes, and accidents--An old bull and the wolves--"Madtails"--Henri floored, etc.
There is nothing that prepares one so well for the
enjoyment of rest, both mental and physical, as a
long-protracted period of excitement and anxiety, followed
up by bodily fatigue. Excitement alone banishes
rest; but, united with severe physical exertion, it prepares
for it. At least, courteous reader, this is our
experience; and certainly this was the experience of our
three hunters as they lay on their backs beneath the
branches of a willow bush and gazed serenely up at the
twinkling stars two days after their escape from the
Indian village.
They spoke little; they were too tired for that, also
they were too comfortable. Their respective suppers of
fresh antelope steak, shot that day, had just been disposed
of. Their feet were directed towards the small
fire on which the said steaks had been cooked, and
which still threw a warm, ruddy glow over the encampment.
Their blankets were wrapped comfortably round
them, and tucked in as only hunters and mothers know
how
to tuck them in. Their respective pipes delivered
forth, at stated intervals, three richly yellow puffs of
smoke, as if a three-gun battery were playing upon the
sky from that particular spot of earth. The horses
were picketed and hobbled in a rich grassy bottom close
by, from which the quiet munch of their equine jaws
sounded pleasantly, for it told of healthy appetites,
and promised speed on the morrow. The fear of being
overtaken during the night was now past, and the
faithful Crusoe, by virtue of sight, hearing, and smell,
guaranteed them against sudden attack during the hours
of slumber. A perfume of wild flowers mingled with
the loved odours of the "weed," and the tinkle of a
tiny rivulet fell sweetly on their ears. In short, the
"Pale-faces" were supremely happy, and disposed to be
thankful for their recent deliverance and their present
comforts.
"I wonder what the stars are," said Dick, languidly
taking the pipe out of his mouth.
"Bits o' fire," suggested Joe.
"I tink dey are vorlds," muttered Henri, "an' have
peepels in dem. I have hear men say dat."
A long silence followed, during which, no doubt, the
star-gazers were working out various theories in their
own minds.
"Wonder," said Dick again, "how far off they be."
"A mile or two, maybe," said Joe.
Henri was about to laugh sarcastically at this, but
on further consideration he thought it would be more
comfortable not to, so he lay still. In another minute
he said,--
"Joe Blunt, you is ver' igrant. Don't you know dat
de books say de stars be hondreds, tousands--oh!
milleryons of mile away to here, and dat dey is more
bigger dan dis vorld?"
Joe snored lightly, and his pipe fell out of his
mouth at this point, so the conversation dropped.
Presently Dick asked in a low tone, "I say, Henri,
are ye asleep?"
"Oui," replied Henry faintly. "Don't speak, or you
vill vaken me."
"Ah, Crusoe! you're not asleep, are you, pup?" No
need to ask that question. The instantaneous wag of
that speaking tail and the glance of that wakeful eye,
as the dog lifted his head and laid his chin on Dick's
arm, showed that he had been listening to every word
that was spoken. We cannot say whether he understood
it, but beyond all doubt he heard it. Crusoe
never presumed to think of going to sleep until his
master was as sound as a top, then he ventured to indulge
in that light species of slumber which is familiarly known
as "sleeping with one eye open." But, comparatively as
well as figuratively speaking, Crusoe slept usually with
one eye and a half open, and the other half was never
very tightly shut.
Gradually Dick's pipe fell out of his mouth, an
event which the dog, with an exercise of instinct almost,
if not quite, amounting to reason, regarded as a
signal for him to go off. The camp fire went slowly
out, the stars twinkled down at their reflections in the
brook, and a deep breathing of wearied men was the
only sound that rose in harmony with the purling
stream.
Before the sun rose next morning, and while many of
the brighter stars were still struggling for existence
with the approaching day, Joe was up and buckling on
the saddle-bags, while he shouted to his unwilling companions
to rise.
"If it depended on you," he said, "the Pawnees
wouldn't be long afore they got our scalps. Jump, ye
dogs, an' lend a hand, will ye?"
A snore from Dick and a deep sigh from Henri was
the answer to this pathetic appeal. It so happened,
however, that Henri's pipe, in falling from his lips, had
emptied the ashes just under his nose, so that the sigh
referred to drew a quantity thereof into his throat and
almost choked him. Nothing could have been a more
effective awakener. He was up in a moment coughing
vociferously. Most men have a tendency to vent ill-humour
on some one, and they generally do it on one
whom they deem to be worse than themselves. Henri,
therefore, instead of growling at Joe for rousing him,
scolded Dick for not rising.
"Ha, mauvais dog! bad chien! vill you dare to look
to me?"
Crusoe did look with amiable placidity, as though to
say, "Howl away, old boy, I won't budge till Dick does."
With a mighty effort Giant Sleep was thrown off at
last, and the hunters were once more on their journey,
cantering lightly over the soft turf.
"Ho, let's have a run!" cried Dick, unable to repress
the feelings aroused by the exhilarating morning air.
"Have a care, boy," cried Joe, as they stretched out
at full gallop. "Keep off the ridge; it's riddled wi'
badger--Ha! I thought so."
At that moment Dick's horse put its foot into a
badger-hole and turned completely over, sending its
rider through the air in a curve that an East Indian
acrobat would have envied. For a few seconds Dick
lay flat on his back, then he jumped up and laughed,
while his comrades hurried up anxiously to his assistance.
"No bones broke?" inquired Joe.
Dick gave a hysterical gasp. "I--I think not."