CHAPTER TWENTY.
DANGEROUS NEIGHBOURS.
Chris's heart beat fast, and as he glanced at Ned he could see thatthere was a peculiar look in his eyes and strain in his countenancewhich suggested discomfort, if not fear.
But all this was momentary. There was something else to think aboutbeside how his companion looked, especially his father's words, for thedoctor suddenly whispered--
"Keep close everybody, and have your rifles ready when they come on.Mind, no one is to fire till I give the order, and then all together.Give them the right-hand barrels, loaded with shot, a scattering volleyright into the midst. That ought to scare them and make them turn aboutand gallop off."
"And if they don't?" said Wilton, in a hoarse whisper.
"Give them the bullets then, and let every one be carefully aimed, forwe shall be fighting for our lives."
"They can't have seen us," thought Chris then, for though the Indianswere drawing nearer and nearer, they did not seem to be searching thelong grass as if they feared danger, but came on in a line, each man, ascould be plainly-seen now, with his rein lying loosely upon his horse'sneck, his hands being occupied in holding a short bow with an arrowfitted to the string ready for drawing to the head and launching.
"Why, they can't see us," thought Chris again, for as the low-down sunstruck nearly horizontally it lit up the enemies' eyes in a peculiarway, showing their transparency, and at the same time it seemed to theboy that as they came on in line at a walk they were looking in advanceof where his party were waiting.
The next minute all was made clear, for the line of Indians advancedobliquely towards the long grass till the leading man came almost intouch a couple of hundred yards in advance, when all at once there wasthe wild whirr of wings, and about a couple of dozen great birds spranginto the air.
The next instant there was a peculiar dull twanging sound, followed bythe fall of heavy bodies, a wild yell, and the galloping off of theenemy out into the open after the retreating flock. But three of thesavages reined in, leaped from their horses, and leaving them began toseek amongst the strands of the tall grass, their search being rewardedby the discovery of four heavy turkeys, two of which were quite dead,but the others kept on flapping their wings heavily, their beautifulcoppery bronze plumage gleaming brightly in the sun, till a heavy blowor two gave them their quietus, when the Indians began to twist up someof the grass, to tie the birds' legs together tightly so that a coupleof the fierce-looking fellows could hang them across their ponies'necks.
This done, amidst a good deal of grinning and gabbling perfectlyincomprehensible to the listeners, the Indians mounted again and satgazing with shaded eyes across the grassy plain, till, apparentlysatisfied of the direction their companions had taken, one of themuttered a deep-toned _Hugh_! and rode off, followed by the rest.
"What an escape!" sighed the doctor, after waiting till the party waswell out of hearing. "It is marvellous that they did not see us."
"They had no eyes for that, sir," said Griggs. "They expected to findturkey, and they were too much on the watch for the birds to be lookingfor us. They had no suspicion of our being near."
"But the wretches have carried off our supplies," said Ned bitterly.
"Hallo! What's that?" said Chris, as a flapping noise was heard in thegrass.
He did not wait for an answer to his question, but forced his waythrough the grass towards the spot whence the sound had come.
"Look out," he shouted, for there was a beating of wings, and a big birdrose from close to his right-hand, passing out of his reach, but not toescape, for the next moment there was a dull thud and a fall, for as itpassed over him Griggs had struck at it with his rifle-barrel, breakingits wing.
The fall was followed by a repetition of the beating which had firsttaken the boy's attention.
"I thought that wasn't the one I heard," he cried, and pushing forwardhe literally threw himself upon another of the birds, lying in the thickgrass and frantically beating its wings with such violence that itlevelled the grass for some distance round.
"Take care," cried the doctor warningly; "they can strike very hard withtheir wings."
"I've found that out," grumbled Chris bitterly, as he winced from acouple of blows, but retaliated with such vigorous action by means ofthe butt of his rifle that the beating ceased, the great bird's headfell over, and the prize lay inert.
"Splendid!" cried Wilton and Bourne in a breath, as, hot and panting,Chris dragged his capture to where his companions stood watching theencounter.
"They did not take much pains about retrieving their game," said thedoctor.
"Sign that it's too plentiful for them to need it, sir," said Griggs,laughing. "I say; they're not bad shots, to bring a lot like that downflying. Six birds out of one flock, with bows and arrows too."
"There were such a lot of them to shoot, though," said Chris, "and thebirds were all quite together. I say, Ned, look at this arrow. Goneright through the neck.--Think they'll come back to look for more,father?"
"No," was the reply. "I can just see them under the sun, riding rightaway. We might go on now slowly if we keep in the thick grass."
The word was given, and all mounted, but not until Griggs had followedthe Indians' example of tying the two birds' legs together and swingingthem across his saddle-bow, Chris's proposal to carry his own capturebeing negatived on the declaration that it would be much easier for twoto be carried together than one.
"You'll get your supper after all, Ned," said Chris, after they had beenriding slowly on through the grass as near to their trail as could beguessed, for it was still considered advisable to keep as much undercover as possible, the Indians' sense of sight being well known to bevery acute.
"There, you needn't try to joke about that," was the reply, in a weary,querulous tone. "You're as fond of good things as I am."
"Never said I wasn't," cried Chris, laughing. "But I say, Griggs, wemust have one of those for supper to-night, no matter how late we are."
"All right," said the American. "I begin to feel as if I can pick a bitmyself; but you won't like raw turkey, will you?"
"Haw? Nonsense! We must make a good fire, and frizzle bits over theembers."
"A good fire, to show the Indians where we've made our camp?"
"Oh!" exclaimed Chris. "I never thought of that," and he was silent fora few minutes, but only to break out again with, "We shall be too faroff for any Indians to see, for we've got many miles to go yet to camp."
"And we can make our fire in the shelter of the trees," added Ned."That'll be all right. But I say, Griggs, you ought to begin pickingone of the birds at once, so as to be ready when we get back."
"To be sure," said Griggs; "capital idea. You're a nice fellow to takecare of yourself out in an Indian country!"
"What do you mean?" cried Ned.
"Preparing a trail for the savages to follow."
"I don't understand you."
"What! Didn't you propose that I should begin plucking the turkey andsprinkling the feathers about as we go? Nice trail for the brutes tofollow. Why, if they picked it up they'd come along at a gallop."
"Yes," said the doctor, who had heard a part of the conversation; "weshall have to be very cautious till we get right away from the districtthe Indians haunt."
The night was coming on fast, for the twilight which had followed thedisappearance of the sun was brief; but as the evening passed away, themoon which had looked pale and wan began to grow more and more silvery,till it was dazzling in the pure bright air, casting the riders' shadowson the rustling grass and making their way easy.
The stars were beginning to glitter too, and pool after pool was passedwhich looked as if it were dotted with points of light.
It was a glorious ride, and not without incident. Wherever there waswater the fowl which frequented the marshy pools could be heard feeding,and the wild cries of the animals which haunted the far-spreading plaincame frequently to the ear, while the sha
rp yelping barks, or the long,low-drawn wails like those of jackals and the dismally weird snappingshout of the prairie wolf came plainly from far away where the salt bushwas known to be plentiful.
Every now and then too some owl came hawking by on silent wing, fixingits great eyes upon one or other of the party as it swooped past. Twiceover Griggs paused in doubt as to their course, for the crushed-downgrass trampled by the ponies was at times hard to trace in themoonlight; but he was not long in picking up the trail again, and atlast the camp was reached, with everything looking just as it had beenleft that morning, while the mules were still grazing, apparently ashungry as ever, though a little closer observation proved they werepicking and choosing amongst the youngest and juiciest twigs.
"Hah!" sighed Ned, dropping wearily from his pony. "Now for a good fireand some of that turkey, Griggs."
"Eh? Didn't you hear what the doctor said just now when he came upalongside?"
"No," said Ned anxiously; "what? That I was not to light the fire?"
"No, nor any one else, lad. He said that no fire was to be litto-night, and that we must all make shift with a bite of what we left incamp this morning."
"Oh!" groaned Ned, so dismally that Chris was not too weary to forgethis own disappointment and laugh and chuckle with delight at hiscompanion's discomfiture.
But that was not the only disappointment, for as soon as the ponies hadbeen unsaddled and freed from their bits, to be turned loose for a rolland graze, Griggs, who had been to examine the provender, came back toannounce that there was none to examine.
"What!" cried the boys in a breath. "Why, we left plenty for a coldsupper."
"Yes," said Griggs, "but the jackals, or wolves, or whatever they were,haven't."
"You don't mean to say--" began Chris, who felt far from mirthful now.
"Yes, I do; they've been here and cleared out everything."
"But no fire, no turkey, no tea," cried Ned. "What are we to do?"
"Just as the mustangs have, my lad; have a good long drink, a roll, andthen--"
"We can't graze," cried Chris.
"No, but we can take it out in sleep."