Aunt Peggy Carey "builded better than she knew."
In her fierce attack on the Tory she administered well-merited punishment, leaving him in a demoralized condition, so thoroughly whipped, indeed, that for several minutes he was dazed and not himself.
Her friends trembled to think of the vengeance he would visit upon her for the act, but the good lady herself seemed to have no apprehensions, and, turning about, she carefully arranged her hair and bonnet, and resumed cooking slices from the carcass of the pig, intending now to wait upon the Senecas, who had been kind enough not to interfere while she attended to the other important duty.
What the next step would have been was hard to guess, but for the sudden discovery which we have made known.
One of the captives was found to be missing, and he was the most important of all, being no less a personage than Lieutenant Fred Godfrey.
The instant Aunt Peggy assailed Golcher the youth saw that the opportunity for which he was waiting had come, and he took advantage of it.
The uproar for the moment was great. The captives on the log sprang to their feet, and the Senecas fixed their attention on the couple, seeing which, Mr. Brainerd said to his son:
"Now's your time, Fred!"
He turned as he spoke, and saw the lieutenant vanishing like a shot in the gloom. When the warriors noted his absence, he was at a safe distance in the wood.
Fully a half-dozen Senecas sprang off in the darkness, using every effort to recapture the prisoner, who could be at no great distance, no matter how fast he had traveled.
Had Fred given away to the excitement of the occasion, and lost that coolness that had stood him so well more than once on that dreadful afternoon and evening, he hardly would have escaped recapture before he went a hundred yards; for the Iroquois were so accustomed to the ways of the woods, they would have seized such advantage and come upon him while he was in the immediate neighborhood.
They believed he would continue running and stumbling in the darkness, and thus betray his whereabouts.
And that is precisely what Fred Godfrey did not do.
He ran with all speed through the woods, tripping and picking himself up, and struggling forward, until he was far beyond the reach of the light of the camp-fire, when all at once he caught the signal whoops of the Indians, and he knew they were after him.
Then, instead of keeping on in his flight, he straightened up and stepped along with extreme caution, literally feeling every foot of the way.
Thus it was he avoided betraying his situation to the cunning warriors, who, in their apparently aimless pursuit, used their ears, and indeed every sense at their command.
It was because Fred himself did the same that he eluded those on his track. Listening, he heard the approach of one of the Iroquois. Instead of hurrying away he stopped, and backing against a tree, stood as motionless as the trunk itself.
The dense summer vegetation overhead prevented a single beam of moonlight reaching him, so that he was secure from observation, so long as he retained his self-possession and made no blunder.
His nerves were under a fearful strain within the next three minutes, for, as if guided by fate, not one but two of the Senecas dashed through the wood, and instead of going by, halted not more than six feet from where he stood.
Why they should have stopped thus was more than he could conjecture, unless they really knew where he was and were sure they could place their hands on him when they wished.
It was hard to understand how this could be, and Fred refused to believe it, though the actions of the Indians were certainly remarkable.
What more trying situation could there be? It was like some nightmare in which the victim sees the foe swiftly approaching and is without the power to move so much as a finger.
But Fred did not lose heart. If they had learned where he was, he meant to use his feet and not to yield so long as he could resist.
He tugged at his bonds, but they were fastened so securely that he could not start them. To loosen them so as to free his hands must necessarily be the work of some time, and he knew how it could be done, when he should be free of his enemies.
But the bonds, when two of the Senecas were at his elbow, were torture, and but for his strength of will he could not have avoided an outcry.
Fortunately, the suspense lasted but a few minutes. The Indians stood silent as if listening, and during that ordeal Fred scarcely drew his breath.
Then they exchanged some words in the gruff, exclamatory style peculiar to the red men, and again they paused and listened.
The other pursuers could be heard at different points, for most of them uttered several cautions but well-understood signals, some of which were answered by the two at Fred's elbow.
"Why should they stop here," thought he, "when they have every reason to think I am threshing through the wood and getting farther away each minute?"
Just then they began moving off, and immediately after, he caught the dim outlines of their figures as they crossed an open space and vanished in the woods beyond.
Fred Godfrey did not stir for several minutes, but at the end of that time he became satisfied that his whereabouts were unknown to the Senecas ranging through the wilderness in search of him, and he ventured to leave the tree.
For a single minute Mr. Brainerd was on the point of following in the footsteps of Fred, and making a break for freedom: that was at the height of the general confusion, when the majority of the Indians started in pursuit.
Possibly such a prompt course might have succeeded, but he allowed the critical moment to pass, through fear that some additional cruelty would be visited on the heads of those whom he left behind.
When Aunt Peggy resumed her culinary operations, the patriots sat down again on the log, excited and fearful that the events of the last few minutes would precipitate the crisis they had been dreading for hours.
Habakkuk McEwen was alarmed, but he could do nothing more than give expressions to his sympathy for the victim of the old lady's wrath, while he regretted, with an anguish which cannot be described, his failure to get away with Fred Godfrey, who, as it seemed to the New Englander, was the born favorite of fortune.
"Thank God!" was the fervent exclamation of Mr. Brainerd, as he compressed his lips, "Fred is beyond their reach."
"Are you sure of that?" asked Maggie.
"Sure of it!" repeated her parent, turning his gaze on her, while he smiled grimly. "Of course I am. When he escaped the clutches of Queen Esther to-day he had no darkness to help him, and the rascals were at his heels. Yet he got away safely, and he never would have fallen into their hands again but for his anxiety to help us. Now he is out there somewhere in the woods, where it is as dark as Egypt, and do you suppose he is the fool to allow them to take him again? Not by a long shot."
Maggie was immeasurably relieved to hear these words of her parent, which, it may be said, removed every fear for her brother from her thoughts.
"But, father," she added, "what can he do, with his arms bound?"
"Faugh! what's that? We are tied with green withes or vines that hurt like the mischief, but it will take only a few minutes to rub them against the corner of a stone or rock and separate them. Have no fears about Fred," continued her father, "these red skins can whoop and yell, and howl and crack their heels together, but they'll never have another such a chance to scalp Fred Godfrey as they had a little while ago."
Relieved of this dread, Maggie's anxieties were centered upon her friends.
Her heart bled for her father, who sat as proudly upright and defiant as though at the head of a brigade of men; but she could only pray and utter brave words, in the hope of cheering him.
Poor Eva was so terrified that she cried continually. She clung to her beloved parent, and, fortunately, as yet none of her captors made any objection. She was determined to stay by him to the last.
The American Indian admires bravery as much as does his civilized enemy, and it needed no student of human nature to see that the few who remained were as much disgusted as amused with the sorry figure cut by their Tory leader in his affray with Aunt Peggy Carey.
This was proven by their refusal to interfere, and by the grins that appeared among them when the comedy was going on. But they were under the leadership of the same Tory, and, when he came stumbling back from his fall over the log, and the lady resumed culinary operations, the Senecas became as owlishly glum as seems to be their nature.
They were helped in this feeling by the flight of Lieutenant Godfrey, the prisoner most prized. As it was, the entire party came near starting for the young man, but, unfortunately, they checked themselves in time to prevent a stampede on the part of the rest of the captives.
Jake Golcher, as we have said, came back dazed and pretty well subdued. A great deal of his straggling hair had been removed by Aunt Peggy, and his countenance gridironed by her vigorous finger-nails.
He dropped down in a collapsed condition at one end of the log, removed from the captives, who, like the Indians, looked at him askance, half disposed to laugh outright, despite the alarming danger.
In the mean time, Aunt Peggy was broiling the slices of tender pig with such care that she had a couple finished.
"There," she exclaimed, as she tossed the two in the direction of the Senecas, "I like to see hog eat hog, and you might as well begin."
The facetious red men scrambled, like a lot of school-boys after a handful of marbles, and had they been so many wolves, the food could hardly have disappeared with greater celerity.
Paying no attention to the Tory, who sat on the fallen tree with his head drooping forward and his eyes fixed on nothing, the warriors started a curious scene.
Approaching quite close to Aunt Peggy, they crowded and pushed each other, eagerly waiting when she should be ready to fling them the prize for which their stomachs yearned.
All were on their feet, and their black eyes, and quick, fidgeting movements, showed that their souls were in the business, or fun, as it might be termed.
There can be little question that, incredible as it may seem, the action of Aunt Peggy had rendered her somewhat of a favorite with the Indians. It is just such people who admire the vim and bravery of any one—especially when not expected.
There can be no means of knowing, and yet it is safe to suspect, that the most reverential of these Senecas was the warrior who had received such a ringing slap in the face when he dared to touch his painted lips to the virgin cheek of Aunt Peggy.
Such is human nature the world over. The red men laughed and tumbled about, as they scrambled for the bits of meat, while even Aunt Peggy's features relaxed into a grim smile, when she looked upon the amusing performance.
It was no more than natural that as she had gone up in the estimation of these dusky warriors, the one who had been vanquished sank correspondingly low.
Strange complications might result from this condition of affairs.
Perhaps a dozen or more slices of the pig were broiled and tossed among the struggling red men, by which time their appetites were so well attended to that they lost a great deal of the vigor with which in the first place they scrambled for the food.
But during this same time, which was only a few minutes, Jake Golcher was rapidly regaining a correct idea of the situation, and it was not long before he raised his head and surveyed the scene with interest.
He straightened up and watched them a brief while, when the stinging scratches on his face reminded him of the episode in which he had cut such a sorry figure.
"She beats ten thousand wildcats," he muttered, glaring at Aunt Peggy, who just then was smiling at the efforts of the Indians to seize the slice of young pork she tossed toward them.
"I don't understand how it was she knocked the spots out of me in that style; it must have been her awful temper, and because she come at me afore I knowed anything about it."
Very probably the causes named had much to do with the result.
"Why didn't some of them Senecas pull her off? It's just like 'em to be pleased with it, and I'm sure the rebels busted themselves with laughter to see me catch it."
Jake Golcher seemed to be quite correct in gauging the feelings of those around him.
Sitting on the fallen tree, he muttered:
"These warriors have all been put under me, and they've got to do what I tell 'em to do; we've played the fool too long in sparing 'em. They ought to have been put out of the way before this. Let me see—I'll fix it this way."
He first looked at Aunt Peggy, toward whom he felt a hatred inconceivable to any one not in his situation.
"I'll settle withherfor this; it will be just like the Senecas to refuse to burn her at a tree, because she is such a she-panther; but I'll give her a touch of the knife myself, that will prevent her ever pulling out half my hair agin.
"I'll keep the two gals there, for they'll stick together, and I'm bound to bring that proud Maggie Brainerd to terms. If she'll do the right thing by me I'll let up on her father that I hate worse than p'ison. As for that long-legged Habakkuk, I don't know what to think of him; it may be he's one of us, though I have my doubts. I'll wait and see; but won't I level things up with that 'ere Fred Godfrey? Wal, I should rather guess so. I'll make sure he's out of the way. I s'pose he's sittin' over there wondering when his turn is comin'. He won't be kept wondering long."
Wishing to gratify his nature, he leaned forward and peered around Mr. Brainerd to see how Fred Godfrey was taking it.
But he failed to discover the young man.
Making sure he was not on the log, Golcher rose to his feet and stared here and there in a hurried search for the youth.
He was invisible, and, with a vague fear, the Tory strode to Mr. Brainerd.
"Where's that son of yours?"
"Well, sir," was the response, "I judge that by this time he's about half a mile away in the woods, and safely beyond the reach of all the warriors and Tories that ever had their hair yanked out by an elderly lady not in the enjoyment of very rugged health!"
It need not be said that Fred Godfrey improved his opportunity to the utmost.
Having eluded the Senecas who were so close behind him, it was not likely he would run any risk of being caught on their return. In fact, he might have considered himself beyond danger, and yet the narrowest escape of all occurred only a few minutes afterward.
Anxious to gain the utmost time possible, he was picking his way with great care, when he stepped upon a stone that turned under his foot, and he narrowly escaped falling.
Immediately he caught a birdlike call near him, and his quick wit told him it was a signal from one of the warriors searching for him.
Fred made an abrupt turn, and going a rod or two, halted precisely as before—that is beneath a large tree, and stood close against the trunk.
And standing thus, he noticed the same sound once more, this time answered from a point directly behind him.
He could do nothing but stand still, and he knew how to do that equal to a living statue. Only a few yards in front was an open space, where the moonlight revealed objects without exposing himself to observation.
Thus it was that the youth detected two Indians, who came out of the wood on the other side and stopped, as if they were posing for inspection. They talked for some minutes in their own tongue, gesticulating earnestly and then walked toward him.
He quickly shifted his position to the other side of the tree and peered around, but, when they came into the shadow, nothing could be seen of them.
"I believe they know where I am," thought he, "and are amusing themselves at my expense."
Such seemed to be the case, for once more the red men stopped and were actually within reach of him. Since the arms of the latter were still fastened behind him, it can well be understood how he dreaded discovery, his chief fear being that the painful throbbing of his heart would betray him.
But the good fortune that had attended him on the other side the river did not desert him now. The Senecas hovered about him only a minute or two and then moved away, this time taking a direction that led toward the camp-fire—an indication that they had given up the pursuit.
Pausing only long enough for them to pass beyond hearing, Fred resumed his flight, with the same care he had used from the first.
He was now more hopeful than ever, but almost instantly received another warning that it is never safe to shout until you are "out of the woods."
He judged he was fully two hundred yards from the camp-fire which he had left so hurriedly, when he found himself in such darkness that he once more stopped until he could gather some idea of his location and of the points of the compass.
Listening closely, he caught the gentle flow of the small waterfall and of the Susquehanna on his right, from which direction also came the occasional reports of guns and the shouts of Indians. This convinced him he was facing south, and that his back was turned toward his friends.
It was no pleasant discovery to find the same ominous sounds proceeding from his own side the river; but, having left them in such a situation, this alarming fact was scarcely noticed.
"The first thing for me to do is to get these withes off my arms and wrists," he said, poking around with his feet for some sharp-cornered stone. "I've stood this—"
To his dismay, a figure approached in the gloom. There were just enough scattering rays of moonlight to show it, and its movements made certain the fact that he (the stranger) had discovered him.
"I shall have to use my feet," was the thought of Fred, as he braced himself; "and I will give him a kick that will do something—"
"Am dat you, leftenant?" came in the form of a husky whisper, as the figure stopped a few feet away and tried to peer through the gloom.
Fred Godfrey almost shouted with delight, for the question revealed the identity of Gravity Gimp.
"Thank Heaven!" was the exclamation of the young man. "I hadn't the remotest idea of meeting you, Gravity."
"Let's shake on it," chuckled the African, groping forward with his huge palm, which he shoved into the face of the pleased Fred, who said:
"If you'll be kind enough to cut these bonds that hold my arms immovable, I'll shake both hands."
"Of course; where am dey?" asked the equally happy negro, poking around with his immense jack-knife. "I'se so glorious dat you mus' 'scuse me if I cut off de wrong things. I can't hold myself. Dar, I knowed it!" he added, slashing away; "dat's your leg dat I have hold of, and I do b'leve dat I've cut it half off. Begs pardon, leftenant, and I'll hit it after a while."
But no such blunder had been committed, and, under the manipulation of the jack-knife, the withes that had bound the arms of Fred Godfrey were speedily cut, and he swung his hands about and sawed the air with great relief.
"My gracious! but that's good!" he exclaimed. "I was so wretched that I believe I would have gone wild if I hadn't been freed."
"Why didn't you gnaw 'em off?" said Gimp. "You've got good 'nough teeth to walk right through anything like dat."
"That may be, Gravity; but with my hands tied behind me, I couldn't very well get at them with my teeth."
"I didn't thunk ob dat—but you could hab fixed it easy 'nough."
"In what way?"
"Jes' stood on your head—dat was de way to reach 'em."
It is idle to attempt to picture the feelings of Jake Golcher, when he learned from Mr. Brainerd, one of the captives, that Fred Godfrey had escaped but a few minutes before.
Weakly hoping there was some mistake, he turned to one of the Indians and demanded the truth. He got it in the shape of information that several of the fleetest warriors were hunting for the fugitive, and there was hope he would be brought in speedily.
The renegade stood a few seconds, and then began striding up and down in front of the camp-fire, indulging in imprecations too frightful to be recorded.
All this time Mr. Brainerd was so delighted that he forgot his own grief. He knew how great was the disappointment of the man, and he was pleased thereat, for, recalling the chastisement received from the hands of Aunt Peggy, it can be safely said that matters had gone ill with Golcher, since the lady began cooking for her captors.
By and by he exhausted himself, and then paused in front of Habakkuk McEwen and demanded:
"Why didn't you stop him when you seen him running away?"
"I didn't see him," was the truthful reply of the fellow, who was mean enough to add: "If I had, you can just bet I'd stopped him, even if my hands was tied."
"Why didn't you yell for me as soon as you found out he had gone?"
"I did yell," was the unblushing answer, "but there was so much confusion nobody noticed me, and the Injins was off after him as quick as he started."
"Just then Aunt Peggy was attending to you," Mr. Brainerd remarked, "and you were so badly used up that you wouldn't have noticed an earthquake had it come along."
Maggie looked beseechingly at her father, while the Tory glowered on him like a thunder-cloud.
But for his anxiety to win the good will of the pretty maiden, he would have struck down her parent where he stood. The latter acted as though he had given up all hope, and was trying to retaliate to some extent on him whom he detested.
"See here," said Habakkuk, with a flirt of his head and a confidential air, "ain't you going to cut them things that are tied about my arms?"
"What'll we do that for?"
"So's to let me loose," was the logical answer; "you know, Jakey—"
"There, don't call me Jakey," interrupted the Tory.
"Well, Mr. Golcher—"
"Make it plain 'Jake.'"
"Well, Jake, as I was going to say, I'm your friend, and have been ever since I knowed you, and you know it; if you'll let me loose I'll 'list under you; I'm already got up Injin style, and will sarve as one of your advanced scouts."
"Shet up?" interrupted Golcher; "I don't b'leve you're anything more than a rebel, and if we'd done as we orter, the whole caboodle of you would have been wiped out before the sun went down."
While the Tory was indulging in these expressions he continually glanced at Maggie Brainerd, occasionally taking a step toward her. It is at such times that a woman is quick to perceive the truth, and with the natural instinct of her sex, she looked at him in turn, and with that smile of hers that was really resistless, said:
"Jake, come here a minute, please."
In a flutter of surprise, he approached, with a smirking grin.
"What can I do for you, dear Maggie?"
"I'll be much obliged if you will cut those bonds which trouble father. He has suffered so much to-day that he is irritable, and I hope you will pardon him."
This was an audacious request, and took Golcher aback somewhat, but there was no refusing the prayer.
So, with the best grace possible, he stepped forward, hunting-knife in hand, and cut first the wire-like withes that held Habakkuk McEwen fast, and then did the same with those of Mr. Brainerd.
"I'm very much obliged," said the grateful Habakkuk; "you're very kind, and after this I'm your servant."
Angry as was Mr. Brainerd, he had better sense than to quarrel with his good fortune, and he thanked the man who loosened his arms, while at the same time he concluded to hold his peace for the time.
"Fred is beyond their reach," he thought, "and so is Gravity Gimp, and I judge one of them had a gun. True, that isn't much, but there is no saying what will be done with it, for both are as brave men as ever stood in battle.
"If Fred only had the chance, he would be heard from very soon. But there is none whom he can rally to our help. Ah, if he could but pick up a half-dozen soldiers, what a raid he would make through this camp! But wherever there are any of our soldiers they are wounded, killed, or so scared that they are an element of weakness.
"I can not help feeling some hope, and yet my reason tells me that there is no ground on which to base it."
Having complied with the request of Maggie Brainerd, Golcher felt authorized to approach her with a statement of his own proposition. Accordingly, he walked to the farther end of the log, and motioned for her to join him. She thought it best to comply, and did so, sitting down within a foot or two of him.
"You see," he said, with his smirk, "I've done what you axed me to do."
"You have, and I thank you for it."
"That's all right; there ain't nothin' mean about me, for all some folks choose to slander me. Now, I s'pose you'd like to have your father and the rest of them folks let go?"
"I have been praying for that ever since the Indians captured us."
"Wall, I've been thinking 'bout settin' you all loose to take care of yourselves."
"Oh, if you do, Mr. Golcher—"
"Thar, thar," he interrupted, with a wave of the hand; "call me 'Jake' when you speak to me."
"I'll be grateful to you, Jake, as long as I live, and so will they."
"That's all very well; but gratertude ain't going to do me much good," said Jake, with another grin. "I orter have some reward, Maggie."
"So you will; the reward of an approving conscience, which is beyond the price of rubies."
"I know all 'bout that," said he, slinging one leg over the other, after which he nursed the upper knee and swayed the foot back and forth; "but that don't satisfy me. I want more."
"We have a little farm, you know; I'll give you my share in that, and father, I'm sure, will pay you everything he can get together."
"Yes, but that ain't enough, Maggie."
"What else can we do?" she asked, despairingly, while her sex's intuition told her what he was hinting at.
"I wantyou," he said, bending his head close to her, while she recoiled; "if you'll be my wife, I'll let your father, Eva, yourself, and even Aunt Peggy, go; if you don't, the Senecas shall tomahawk them all."
Maggie Brainerd knew this was coming, and she asked herself whether it was not her duty to be offered up as a sacrifice, to save her beloved friends. Would there be any more heroism in doing so than had been displayed before by thousands of her sex?
She was prayerfully considering the question, when her indignant father, who had heard it all, broke in with:
"Tell him no—a thousand times no! If you don't, you are no daughter of mine!"
Gravity Gimp and Lieutenant Fred Godfrey were in high spirits, for each had been highly favored by fortune. They were beyond sight of the camp-fire and had thrown the pursuing Iroquois off the track, so that, with ordinary care, they were out of personal danger.
But this elation could not last. Could they forget that within a stone's throw their friends were in peril, and unless soon rescued would be beyond all help?
"We have only one gun between us," said Fred, "and I don't see any prospect of getting another."
"I thinked maybe we mought find one, somewhar in de woods," said Gimp, "but I guess dere ain't much show for dat. You am de best shot, so I'll be wery much obleeged if you'll take charge ob dis rifle."
Fred accepted the weapon, feeling that before any great harm could befall those in the Indian camp, the bullet nestling in the barrel would be heard from.
"We will steal up as near as we dare," said he, "and watch our chances."
"I doesn't see dat I can assist you, to a wery alarming extent," said Gimp, "so if you doesn't object, I'll go on a scout."
"Go on a scout? What do you mean by that?"
"Ise an ijee; I'll take a look around, and when I want you I'll just whistle this way, and you'll understand."
Fred had little faith in the proposal, but fortunately he did not object, and a minute later Gimp was gone.
Left to himself Fred stealthily approached the vicinity of the camp, fully alive to the delicacy of his mission.
He was resolved that if detected, and this was likely to occur, since a number of the Senecas were still absent and would soon be returning, he would not be retaken.
"There will not be a shadow of hope, if I fall into their hands again, and I may as well make it lively for a while."
A few steps farther and he reached a point from which he obtained a clear view of the Indian camp.
He saw Aunt Peggy busy with her culinary duties, while the group of half a dozen Indians were as eagerly watching and scrambling for the brown slices as if they were so many wolves.
By and by Jake Golcher cut the withes that bound the arms of Habakkuk McEwen and Mr. Brainerd, and began talking with Maggie while Fred watched with the deepest interest the singular camp.
"I think there'll be some mischief done pretty soon," thought the youth, after watching the scene for a moment; "and, if so, I must take a hand."
He had stationed himself by the side of a tree with large spreading limbs, and he now resorted to the odd plan of climbing a short distance and seating himself among the limbs.
"I've got just as good a view here," he said to himself, "and, if it becomes necessary to shoot, they won't be apt to look in this place for me."
At the same time it occurred to him that if the flash of his gun should be noticed, and his whereabouts discovered, he would be in the worst possible situation.
Parting the limbs, so as to give him the view he wished, he held his weapon ready to fire any instant, while he closely watched proceedings.
No better aim could have been required than that now given him; he could cover every one in the party, and the distance was so short that it was impossible to miss.
"I ought to shoot him," he muttered, as he looked at Jake Golcher, while sitting by Maggie Brainerd and talking with such earnestness; "it is he who has followed us, and but for him the party would be well out of danger by this time."
The young lieutenant was angry enough to shoot a dozen Tories, had the chance been his; but when he sighted along the gleaming barrel of his rifle, on which the firelight fell, he could not bring himself to the point.
"Yes; I ought to do it," he added, "but I can't feel right in picking off a man in that fashion. No; I'll wait till he gives me a better excuse."
The watcher knew what passed between Maggie, Golcher, and Mr. Brainerd, when the last came up and uttered his indignant protest, almost as well as if he had overheard the words themselves.
"Jake has proposed to let the whole party off, provided Maggie will marry him, and before she can decide (for he knows if she makes the promise she will keep it, if they both live), father is giving the Tory a piece of his mind. He's doing it in a style, too, that can't be misunderstood."
This little scene lasted but a few seconds, when Mr. Brainerd resumed his seat on the log, close to his daughter, as if he would protect her from any more such advances.
All this was noted and understood by the watcher in the tree, when the latter was recalled to his own situation by a slight rustling below. Looking down, he was able to see by the light of the camp-fire the figure of a Seneca Indian, as he walked softly in the direction of the camp.
No doubt he was one of the warriors that had been hunting for Fred, and who failed to find him.
The latter was so near his enemies that he could follow the motions of the Indian until he joined his comrades, or, rather, went up to Golcher, who straightway began questioning him about the search for the young patriot.
Whatever their answers might have been, it is scarcely to be presumed they added much to the peace of mind of Mr. Jacob Golcher.
After the indignant protest of Mr. Brainerd, Jake Golcher concluded to let the matter rest for the time.
"The old fellow is pretty sassy and independent, but I'll take it out of him before he's two hours older. I wish Black Turtle would come in."
He referred to one of the most treacherous and cruel warriors of the Seneca tribe—a savage whose atrocities had given him prominence even among a people noted for their cruelty, and the identical redskin who was in his mind at that moment came out of the wood and approached the Tory leader.
Black Turtle was the warrior who passed under the tree in which Fred Godfrey was perched.
Golcher now believed that he had been lenient, and he resolved to force the issue that had already been delayed too long. Without heeding the other warriors, who were laughing and scrambling for the slices of meat, Black Turtle at once went up to the white man, with whom he held a brief but pointed conversation.
He first told that they had hunted hard for the Yengese, or Yankee, and had failed to find him—a piece of superfluous information, and then Black Turtle, who seemed to be a subordinate chief, asked in an angry voice why the whites sitting on the log had been spared so long.
On the other side the river the Indians allowed few of the Yengese to live any longer than they could survive the blows of the tomahawk, and there was no reason why such partiality should be shown these who had crossed the Susquehanna.
This declaration was supplemented by the warrior drawing his tomahawk, and announcing that he meant to finish the job at once.
But this was a little more than Jake Golcher wished. There was one of the captives, at least, whom he desired to protect until certain, one way or the other, about her disposition toward him.
If her father were removed, the Tory believed the daughter could be brought to terms through her affection for her sister and aunt.
"So long as the old chap is alive," reflected Golcher, "so long will he prevent her consent. But, if he is gone, and she finds that the only way to save Eva and her aunt is to accept me, she will do it, though there will be a big lot of blubbering and praying and all that sort of stuff. Therefore, the best thing is to get her father out of her path: she will be pretty well broke up by that."
It was now necessary that Black Turtle should be appeased in some way, and Jake Golcher, without hesitation, made known his purpose.
It was, in short, that Black Turtle should move off in the woods, as if he had no thought of evil in his mind, and when beyond sight, make a stealthy circuit, so as to get in the rear of the parties sitting on the log.
He was then to steal up and drive his tomahawk into the skull of the unsuspecting Mr. Brainerd. The Indian would utter his whoop, if so inclined (the disposition to whoop at such a time is irresistible with his race), and dart off in the woods.
He was to stay until matters should become quiet around the camp-fire, when he might come back and play the innocent warrior, or the avenger, as he chose.
Black Turtle entered upon the dreadful business with the cunning peculiar to his nature. He sauntered off in another direction, passing by the group of Senecas on the other side of the fire, without so much as drawing an inquiring look from them.
Fred Godfrey, from his perch in the tree, saw this action of the redskin, but with no suspicion of its meaning.
He thought he would probably continue his hunt for the lieutenant, whom he, and all the others, had not been able to find.
The conduct of Jake Golcher was as cruel as that of Black Turtle. Without resenting the indignant words of Mr. Brainerd, who seated himself beside Maggie and tried to cheer her, the Tory sauntered off and stood grimly watching the curious actions of some of the warriors, who were still struggling for the crumbs that fell from Aunt Peggy's aboriginal table.
He thought it best not to say anything more to the fugitives. He had made a blunder, and no words of his just then could right it. He had decided that there had been already too much talk, and it was time for action to take its place.
The position of the Tory was such that he could see every one in camp, but he glowered out from his ugly brows on the mournful party that still sat on the fallen tree, and not only at them, but he was watching the wood immediately behind Mr. Brainerd.
He knew the point where Black Turtle would be likely to appear, and he did not wish to miss the tragedy.
"Things look rather curious there," muttered Lieutenant Godfrey, from his perch in the branches of the tree. "Why is Jake Golcher watching the folks so closely? Is there some mischief afloat?"
At that instant he detected a movement in the undergrowth behind Brainerd, the position of Fred being the best possible to see what was going on in that spot.
The firelight was thrown over the fallen tree, and reached some distance beyond, so that the figure of Black Turtle, as he rose like a shadow to his feet, was plainly shown.
One glance at the warrior told the whole truth to the watcher, whose gun was already cocked and pointed in that direction.
Black Turtle had selected his own position, and, slowly drawing back his sinewy arm, he aimed straight for him who never dreamed of his peril.
The savage gathered his strength for the throw that was to inflict death upon an innocent man.
But Black Turtle made a slight mistake.
Before the weapon could leave his fingers the sharp report of a rifle broke the stillness, followed instantly by the death-shriek of the savage, as he flung his arms aloft and fell forward, almost against the log on which the Brainerd family were sitting.
The scheme of Jake Golcher and Black Turtle was indefinitely postponed.
The shock terrified the whole camp.
Aunt Peggy dropped the piece of meat she was cooking, and sprang back with a gasp. The other Indians, accustomed as they were to violence, stared in blank wonder, while those on the fallen tree leaped to their feet and gazed at the figure of the Indian as he lay on his face, with his tomahawk clenched in his vise-like grip.
Jake Golcher was dazed, and neither spoke nor stirred until Maggie, in the very depths of her agony, ran to him and exclaimed:
"What is the meaning of this? Was he seeking father's life? If he was, it wasyouwho told him to do it!"
The Tory looked in the white face of the girl, and said, in a surly voice:
"I didn't know anything about it."
"Oh, Jake," she continued, talking rapidly, and in such mental distress that every eye was fixed upon her; "if this isyourwork, a just God will punish you for it. Father has never sought to injure you. We are neighbors, and belong to the same race—"
He attempted to turn away, but she caught his arm, and faced him about.
"You shall hear me. If you want human lives, takemine—take Eva's, but spare his gray hairs; do him a wrong, and as sure as our Heavenly Father reigns above, a punishment shall come to you. Show him mercy, treat us as human beings, and you will thank Him to your dying day that He led you aright, when you went so far astray."
The father would have gone forward and drawn her away, but he was held by her soulful eloquence.
She staggered back and would have fallen, had not Aunt Peggy, who, after all, was the most cool-headed one in the party, seen what was coming and caught her in her arms.
Half-supporting and half-dragging her, she got her back to the tree, where she gently seated her.
Poor Maggie threw her arms around the good woman's neck and gave way to hysterical sobbing, while her aunt tried to soothe her.
Mr. Brainerd sat like a statue, but his lips trembled, and it required all the power of his will to keep from breaking down as utterly as did Maggie herself, who, flinging one of her arms around weeping Eva, gathered her and their aunt in an embrace, and surrendered to her tempest of grief.
The Senecas looked on, but if there was any glimmering of tenderness in their nature it did not struggle to the surface, and the trees around them could not have betrayed less emotion.
As for Jake Golcher, he scanned the picture with darker passions than those of the savages themselves.
He did not stir, but, when he saw Habakkuk McEwen look inquiringly at him, he beckoned him to approach.
The frightened fellow sprang to his feet and hurried across the short space, eager to do anything to win the favor of the other.
"Do you know who shot that Indian?" asked the Tory, in an undertone.
"I haven't the least idea."
"It was Fred Godfrey; he is somewhere near. The shot sounded out yonder"—pointing in the proper direction—"and, if you want to save your life, you must go out and bring him in."
"I'll do it," said McEwen, catching like a drowning man at a straw.
He turned about to start upon his strange errand, when Golcher commanded him to stop.
"How are you going to do it?"
"Catch him by the neck and heels, and drag him along."
"Don't you see the Senecas are starting off to hunt him up?"
It was true. The red men quickly recovered from the shock, and, knowing who fired the shot, were stealing off into the woods in search of the youth, who had given proof of his presence near them.
Almost every one was able to tell the point whence came the familiar bullet, and it will be understood that Fred Godfrey took his life in his hand when he interposed to save his father.
"I don't believe they will find him," said Jake Golcher, alluding to the Senecas, who were moving off in the darkness; "but you can join him, because he takes you for a friend; go out in the woods, signal to him, and when you find him, get him to come nigh enough to be catched. You can do it, and if you succeed, you shall be spared. Don't think," added the Tory, significantly, "that because we let you jine in the hunt you can slip off in the dark."
"Oh, I never thought of such a thing," protested the New Englander. "I always keep my promise, and I'll bring him back."
"There isn't one of these folks that can get away, for the Senecas are all around us. Gray Panther will soon be here with twenty more, and then we shall have 'em all."
If this were the case, Habakkuk might well have asked why Golcher wished him to join in the search. But if such a question came to the mind of McEwen he did not utter it.
"If you try to run away you'll be brought back here and tomahawked inside of half an hour; do your duty, and I'll take care of you; after you get out there in the dark you can signal to him in such a way that he'll show himself, and then you must prove your smartness by getting him to come with you to some p'int where we can pounce onto him. Do you understand?"
"It's all as plain as the nose on your face," said Habakkuk.
"Then be off with you!"
Habakkuk McEwen entered upon his strange mission with ardor. A few seconds carried him beyond sight of the fire, and he pushed forward until fully two hundred yards distant, when he paused, and listened.
He heard nothing of the Iroquois, who could not be far away.
"Over yonder lies the trail that leads to Stroudsburg," he said to himself, "and this is the first fair start that I've had since getting into this neighborhood. Such a promise as I made ain't binding; the way Fred Godfrey has been going on, I think he's able to take care of himself, and it's about time I did the same. I'm off for Stroudsburg, and nothing short of an earthquake shall stop methistime."
And thereupon he started like a frightened deer through the dark woods, with the resolve that when the morrow's sun should rise he would be many a mile to the eastward, and far beyond the reach of Jake Golcher and his Senecas.
Meanwhile, Fred Godfrey, having done such good service for his friend, was equally alert in making the most of it. He did not forget that the sound of his rifle would direct the Senecas to the spot whence it came, and should he remain five minutes in the tree he would be at their mercy.
Consequently, the smoke had scarcely risen from the muzzle of his weapon, and the death-shriek of bloody Black Turtle was yet echoing on the air, when he came down as nimbly as a monkey and hurried from the spot.
The shot that he had fired was one of those unexpected things that startled the Senecas into temporary inaction, just enough to serve a quick-witted person like Fred Godfrey.
He was loath to leave the vicinity of the camp, but self-preservation commanded it, and he did not pause until a safe distance away.
His dread was that the Senecas would take revenge upon the whites for the death of their comrade, and the youth meant to return to a position that would enable him to interfere again, even though the risk were tenfold greater than before.
But Fred had not listened more than a couple of minutes when he was detected by an Indian, who must have followed him some distance through the woods.
"Ugh! S'render—me kill!" growled the savage, bearing down upon him with upraised tomahawk.
"Surrender, eh? That's the way I surrender!"
And, to the terror of the red man, he found the muzzle of a pistol placed against his nose.
"Ugh! no shoot—me good Injun—ugh! Good Yengese!"
And the valiant fellow, ducking his head, and dodging from side to side, like the Digger Indians of California, in the vain effort to distract the aim of his enemy, went threshing through the wood without any regard to noise or dignity.
Lieutenant Godfrey could have stopped his career without trouble, merely by pressing the trigger; but he did not do so. He was a civilized soldier.
"Go in peace," laughed Fred, putting his weapon away. "Heaven knows I do not wish to take human life!"
As the youth had now reached a point where he could feel safe from his pursuers, he proceeded to reload his rifle.
In the darkness it required care, and was a task compared to which that of breech-loading of to-day is nothing. The few beams of moonlight that had disclosed him and the Seneca to each other helped him to pour out the powder from the horn around his waist, and to adjust the quantity in the pan of his flintlock.
"If I continue this picking off of warriors, one at a time," muttered Fred, "I will be able to thin them out before morning."
He was reminded of the delicacy of his position, by hearing low whistling on his right.
"Doubtless that is the one I drove away," was his reflection. "He wants to call some of his brothers before I leave, so he can reward me as an Indian likes to reward one who shows him mercy. But, hello!"
Like a flash came the thought that the peculiar signals that had been going on for some minutes were not those of an Indian, but of his friend, Gravity Gimp.
"I do believe it is he, calling to me," said the lieutenant, as he stationed himself in the shadow of a tree, and, holding his weapon ready for use, cautiously answered the hail, which sounded clear and distinct on the still summer night.
Instantly came the reply, and then he replied in turn, so that communication was established, and whether the other was a friend or foe, it became evident that he was approaching.
The lieutenant did not feel free from fear, for he was aware of the subtlety of the foes against whom he was contending, and nothing was more natural than that they should resort to such a simple artifice to mislead him.
He therefore ceased answering the call when it came close, but held himself ready to fire and withdraw the instant he should detect the deception.
A figure was dimly seen in a small, moonlit space in front, advancing upon him in a crouching posture. Fred fastened his eyes on the shadowy outlines, and he grasped his gun with both hands.
Just then the half-bent man straightened up, and, with a relief that was delightful, Fred recognized the form of Gravity Gimp, who had been hunting and signaling so industriously for the last fifteen minutes.
Lieutenant Godfrey and Gravity Gimp shook hands warmly, for they were overjoyed to meet in this manner, after their enforced parting a brief while before.
"It's a wonder that your signaling did not bring some of the Senecas to you," said the young officer.
"Dat's jist what it done."
"And how did you manage it?"
"When dey come I left, and I took such a path dat if dey tried to foller, dey run agin de trees, or fell ober de rocks and broke dar necks."
"Well, Gravity, you heard my gun, and I'll tell you how it was."
Thereupon the lieutenant gave the particulars of the taking off of the vengeful warrior known as Black Turtle, the Seneca, the African listening, meanwhile, with open mouth and staring eyes.
"Dat's wery cheerin'," said he. "Some ob dem Senekers am so stupid dat you've got to knock dere heads off afore dey knows anything; but, leftenant, I's got 'portant news to tell you."
"What is it?"
"Dar's somebody out in de woods dat ain't Injuns."
"Explain what you mean?" said Godfrey, with a thrill of hope.
"Afore you fired dat gun, and when eberyting was still, I heerd somebody talking out dare; dey kind ob whistled, like I's been doing, den I heerd whispers, and den de sound ob feet."
This was stirring news, indeed, to Fred. If it so proved that these strangers were white men, he might be able to rally them to the attack of Golcher and his Indian allies.
But, alas! if they should prove to be that portion of the band which withdrew a short time previous, their presence would settle forever all prospects of a rescue.
"How far off are they?" he asked.
"Only a short distance; foller me."
"Don't forget, Gravity," said the lieutenant, as he started with him, "that we're likely to run afoul of some of the Senecas, who are out hunting for me."
"I understand dat."
A few minutes later the African came to a stop, and said, in a husky undertone:
"Dis am de spot."
It was hard to imagine how the servant could identify it, for it was in the shadow of the trees, though a small, natural clearing was in sight, that itself being the guiding landmark.
But nothing was seen or heard that could justify the declaration of Gravity, who stood intently listening.
"I don't hear nuffin'," said he, a moment later. "I guess dey hab gone to sleep, and am snorin'. You ain't skeered, be you, lieutenant?"
"What is there to scare us?" asked Fred.
"I don't know ob nuffin, but I thought mebbe you knowed."
Just then Gimp got down on the ground, and pressed his ear to the earth. Immediately he called out:
"I hear footsteps—plain as day—jes' listen!"
Fred Godfrey knelt, and, Indian-like, touched his ear to the ground. As he did so, he caught sounds as if made by the feet of persons moving near them.
"I believe they are white men—God grant they are! Don't make any noise and we will soon find out."
Although he had little experience as a woodman, Fred believed, from the peculiarity of the slight noises that reached his ear, that they were those of his own race.
As a quick way to settle it, though it was an act of imprudence, he called out, in a guarded voice:
"Halloa there, friends!"
"Halloa; are you white?"
"Yes—"
"What's de use ob lyin' so shamefully as dat?" broke in Gimp; "if I'm white den you're black."
"I declare, Gravity, I forgot all about it!" laughed the lieutenant, and then, raising his voice, he said:
"We are one black and one white, fugitives from Wyoming, and hunting for friends."
"That hits us," was the response; and the next moment, to the surprise and delight of Godfrey, seven men came to view in the small moonlit clearing, and waited for him to advance and show himself.
He lost no time in doing so, and, as briefly as possible, explained how it was he and the African were there, and how necessary it was that help should be immediately sent their friends, in the custody of Jake Golcher, the Tory, and his Senecas.
"Now you're shouting," was the hearty response of the leader of the seven, who announced his name as Dick Durkee; "that's what we're here for, though we're a little behind time."
"Where did you come from?"
"I live pretty well back in the country toward Stroudsburg, and I heered two days ago that trouble was coming into Wyoming Valley. You see I got the matter so straight from a friendly Indian that I knowed there could be no mistake. It worried me so that I couldn't sleep, and I told my wife that I was bound to take a hand in it. So I scoured through the country and got my six friends, all true and tried, and set out. We got here only a little while ago, when things looked so squally that I concluded to stop and find out something before going furder; that's the way it stands."
"Then you will help our friends out of their trouble?"
"That's just what we come for, and we don't propose to back out now."
"Give me your hand on that!" exclaimed the delighted Fred.
While the two were saluting each other in this effusive fashion, Gravity Gimp walked out in front of them on the clearing, and solemnly pressing the crown of his head against the ground, elevated his enormous feet in the air, and chuckled as he kicked:
"Reckon dere's gwine to be somethin' like a s'prise party for Mr. Jacob Golcher!"
A most unexpected piece of good fortune had befallen our friends, in the appearance of Dick Durkee, with his six sturdy companions, all armed and ready for an encounter with the Tories and Iroquois.
Learning that young Fred Godfrey had been a lieutenant in the Continental army, they insisted on putting themselves under him, at least so long as they were engaged in hostilities.
"Very well," said the youth, "I will accept the responsibility, because I know I have brave men to lead; but the work will be short."
As every minute was precious, and there was no saying what form of cruelty the captors of the fugitives might inflict, the plan was speedily arranged.
The camp was so near, that they expected to reach it within ten minutes, after which the question between them and the Senecas would be decided in one-fifth of that time.
They were on the eve of starting in Indian file, when a furious threshing was heard, and a panting form plunged directly among them, stopping abruptly with an exclamation of fear, when he saw the figures around him.
"Can any of you gentlemen tell me whether this is Wilkesbarre or Stroudsburg?" he asked, recoiling as if uncertain whether he was with friends or foes.
"Why, Habakkuk," said Godfrey in return; "why, are you in such a hurry that you can't stop?"
"Well, well, well," muttered the terrified New Englander, recognizing his friend; "I was on my way to Stroudsburg, and didn't expect to meet you here, leftenant; what's up?"
"What has caused you to take such a sudden start?"
"I got the chance and I took it; I thought, from the rate I was going, that I ought to be pretty well nigh there by this time."
"The journey is still before you; but, when I left the vicinity of the camp, you were a prisoner."
Habakkuk was loath to explain the strange cause of his presence in the woods, but, finding he was among friends, he finally told the story.
His listeners of course were astonished, for it seemed incredible that Jake Golcher should do anything of the kind.
"Since he sent you out to take me back," said Lieutenant Godfrey, "you must keep your word and produce me before him."
"But, leftenant, such a pledge ain't binding on one, is it?"
"It is when I help you carry it out, and that is precisely what I will do."
The New Englander was amazed, as well he might be, and Fred, not wishing to trifle with the poor fellow, who had been so buffeted by good and ill fortune during the day, explained how the plan could be executed without risk to him.
It cannot be said that Habakkuk took kindly to the project, even then, but in the presence of Durkee and his woodmen, he could not well refuse.
He was assured that he would be well taken care of, and, as time was valuable, the company started without delay.
Where every one understood the necessity of silence, they moved along like so many phantoms.
Gravity Gimp's knowledge was so thorough, that even in the gloom, relieved only now and then by a few beams of moonlight, he recognized the landmarks, and gave great help to Godfrey, who more than once was at fault.
After progressing in this labored manner for some distance they came upon a well-beaten path, where it was much easier to travel than in the unbroken wood.
They had not far to go, and were beginning to slacken their speed, when all were startled by hearing some one approaching from the front. Each man noiselessly stepped out of the path, and, with their guns grasped, awaited the issue.
The first supposition was that they were Indians, and, excepting through fear of complicating matters in camp, the strangers would have been assailed at once.
But at the very moment the two forms, as they proved to be, were immediately opposite, one of them was heard to speak:
"By gracious! Jim, this is the most dangerous latitude I ever was in."
This expression identified them, and Fred spoke in a guarded voice:
"Hold on, friends; don't be alarmed."
Naturally the strangers were frightened, and showed a disposition to break into headlong flight, but Durkee and his comrades quickly stepped into the path and surrounded them.
By the time this was done, the couple realized they were among friends, and they made themselves known.
They were two men who were in the Wilkesbarre Fort during the battle and massacre of the afternoon, and they had come up the eastern shore of the river to learn whether they could be of any help to the numerous fugitives at Wyoming.
They soon found it was too late to do much good, but they lingered in the vicinity and exchanged shots with several parties of Tories and Indians.
They prowled around after dark, when they saw matters going so ill that they concluded there would be no safety in returning to Wilkesbarre, where a panic had probably set in. They were now on their way to Stroudsburg, which was a haven of hope to so many fugitives in that flaming day and the following one.
They gladly agreed to join the rescuers, and, as each had a good rifle and ammunition, they were a most desirable re-enforcement.