Page 35 of The Boy Hunters


  CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE.

  THE MYSTERIOUS WALLET.

  That day our hunters dined, for the first time, on fresh buffalo-beef.After dinner they were not idle, but spent the remainder of the eveningin drying a portion of the meat over a fire. They had resolved toencamp on the spot for the night, and follow up the trail in themorning. They therefore busied themselves, until a late hour, inpreparing as much broiled buffalo-meat as would last them for severaldays.

  It was near midnight before they thought of retiring to rest. As theyhad done upon like occasions before, it was agreed that one should keepwatch--so as to keep off the wolves from the meat--while the other twoslept.

  Their camp was in the open ground, near the spot where the buffalo hadbeen skinned. At a little distance off their animals were browsing uponthe grass. The wolves were in great force--both prairie-wolves, andthose of the large grey species. The scent of the broiling meat hadattracted them from afar; and throughout the night they kept up acontinuous howling, trotting all over the meadow around the camp.

  Francois kept the first watch, and Lucien the second; Basil's turn camenext, and it was to extend till daybreak, when all were to be aroused--so that they might pack up at a very early hour, and continue thejourney. They did not wish to lose a moment more than was necessary--asthey knew that every hour the migrating herd would be gaining upon them,and thus prolong the pursuit.

  Basil's watch was a long one; and, having sat up so late, he feltsleepy. He was, therefore, in no very friendly humour with the wolves--upon whose account he was thus compelled to keep awake. Every now andthen, as he saw them sneaking about in the darkness, he could not helpmuttering an angry ejaculation; and he had made up his mind, as soon asmorning came, to empty his gun at one of the pack, by way of satisfyinghis feelings.

  After a spell of watching, that lasted nearly three hours, he perceivedthe first streaks of dawn in the east.

  "By the time we get breakfast cooked," thought Basil, "there will belight enough to follow the trail; so I'll rouse Frank and Luce; and, byway of a change, I'll give them a _reveille_ with my rifle. Let me pickout the largest of these sneaking wolves; I'll put one of them at leastfrom keeping anybody awake hereafter, I guess."

  Basil, as he reflected thus, raised himself upon his knees, and lookedaround to select a victim. Strange to say, the wolves, as if they hadguessed his intention, had scattered away from the neighbourhood of thefire, though several could still be seen stealing along the edge of thewillows. Basil chose one of these which appeared in the dim light to bea large grey one; and, levelling his piece, fired at it. As he was notvery anxious whether he killed the animal or not, he fired carelessly.

  Following the shot there was heard a loud scream, that was answered byfifty others, from all sides of the valley. It awoke the sleepinghunters; who, along with Basil, sprang to their feet. It was not thescream of wolves they had heard, but a cry of far different import. Itwas the yell of human voices--_the war-cry of Indians_!

  All three stood speechless with terror; but, even could they havespoken, there was scarcely time allowed them to have uttered a word;for, almost simultaneous with the yells, there was a rushing forward ofdark forms; and the next moment fifty tall savages were around them.Basil, who had been farthest out from the fire, was knocked senseless bya blow; while Lucien and Francois, who did not think of using theirguns, were seized by the brawny arms of the Indians and held fast. Itwas fortunate for them that they did not make any resistance, else thesavages would have killed all three upon the spot. As it was, even,they seemed for a while undetermined whether to do so or not--as it wasone of their number that Basil had mistaken for a wolf, and the shot hadwounded the Indian, which, of course, exasperated them greatly.Perceiving, however, the small force of the party, and that the boysmade no farther resistance, they gave up the idea of killing them on thespot, but bound the arms of all three behind their backs; and then,after having mounted them on their horses, and gathered up their gunsand blankets, led them out of the valley. At a short distance off, theIndians reached a spot where their own horses were tied. Here theyhalted for a moment--until each had got into his saddle--and then thewhole party, prisoners and all, set off at a brisk trot over theprairie.

  In about an hour they arrived at a large encampment upon the bank of abroad shallow river. There were nearly an hundred lodges standing uponthe plain; and the ground was littered with buffalo-horns and hides,while vast quantities of the flesh of these animals were hanging frompoles in front of every lodge. There were fires, and camp-kettles, anddogs, and Indian ponies, and women, and children--all mixed up together,or moving to and fro among the tents.

  In front of the encampment, and near the bank of the stream, theprisoners were thrown upon the ground. Their captors left them; butthey were at once surrounded by a crowd of yelling squaws and children.These at first regarded them only with curiosity; but as soon as theyheard that one of the Indians had been wounded, they uttered the mosthideous and piercing cries, and approached their captives withthreatening looks and gestures. They commenced their cowardly tortureby pulling the ears and hair of the boys, and sticking arrow-points intotheir arms and shoulders; and then, by way of having a little fun,several of the squaws seized hold of, and dragged the three prisonersout into the middle of the stream. Here they ducked them, keeping theirheads for a long time under water, all the while yelling and laughinglike so many demons. The poor captives for a while believed that thesewomen were about to drown them, and, tied as they were, they could makeno effort to save themselves. This, however, was not the intention ofthe squaws; they were only disposed to have as much fun out of them aspossible. After they had got tired of this amusement, they dragged theboys back again to the bank, and flung them dripping upon the grass.

  But what was Basil doing all this time? Did he not possess a charmabout him, that would have put an end to all this torturing treatment,and have made the Indians friends instead of such cruel enemies? Ah!poor Basil! he had suffered worse than any of the three. I shall tellyou how it was with him.

  At their capture Basil had been stunned by the blow of a tomahawk. Hehad been knocked quite senseless; and although he recovered himself sofar as to be able to ride to the Indian camp, it was not until after theducking he received in the cold river that he fairly came to himself.As soon as he did so, he bethought himself of that which he carriedunder the breast of his hunting-shirt. In fact, his brothers had beenreminding him of it every moment, anxiously entreating him to make useof a secret of which neither of them fully understood the nature. But,up to this time, Basil, bewildered by the blow, was scarcely consciousof what he did. He had now recovered himself, and was making everyeffort to get at the string, and draw the embroidered pouch from hisbreast; but his hands were tied behind him, and he could not use them!He essayed to reach it with his mouth, but all his efforts were in vain.He then turned towards his brothers, so that they might stretch forwardand draw out the string with their teeth. They were no longer near him!The squaws had dragged them to some distance off; and, like himself,their ankles were tied together, and they could not move from the spotwhere they had been placed.

  Basil saw all this with a feeling of consternation; for, judging fromthe cruel treatment to which they had been submitted, and from theexcited and exasperated manner of the Indians, he began to fear theworst, and to doubt whether the charm he carried might, after all, availthem. He used every effort to give it a trial. Failing to reach it, hemade signs to the squaws around him, nodding with his head, and castinghis eyes downward towards his breast. These, however, did notunderstand his meaning; and only laughed at what appeared to them asomewhat comic pantomime.

  During the continuance of this scene, the Indian men stood apart,conversing together, and evidently deliberating what they should do withtheir prisoners. The manner of some of them was angry and excited.They talked loudly, and gesticulated with violence, occasionallypointing to a spot of level ground in front of the cam
p. The captivescould see that among these loud talkers was the man whom Basil hadwounded, as he carried his arm in a bandage. He was an ill-favoured,ferocious-looking savage; and the boys, although they knew not a wordthat was uttered, could tell by his manner that he was speaking againstthem. To their consternation, they at length saw that he and his partyhad carried their point, and all the others appeared to acquiesce. Whatcould their decision have been? Were they going to murder them?Agonised with these terrible apprehensions, the boys watched everyaction of the Indians with the keenest solicitude.

  All at once each one of the savages was seen to arm himself with a bow;while two of their number, carrying a large stake, proceeded out intothe open ground, and planted it firmly in the earth. O God! the horridtruth now became clear. It was their intention to tie their prisonersto the stake, and use them as a target for their arrows! The boys hadheard that this was a common custom among Indians with their captives;and each of them uttered a cry of terror, as they recognised the fearfulpreparations.

  They had but little time to shout to each other; and what they said wasdrowned by the yells of the squaws and children, who leaped and dancedover the ground, evidently delighted with the prospect of the horridspectacle they were about to witness.

  Fortunately Basil was selected as the first victim. His superior sizeand age, no doubt, obtained him that preference. He was rudely seizedby a pair of Indians and dragged up to the stake, where the savagescommenced stripping him--by way of making a better mark of his nakedbody!

  As soon as they had loosened his arms and pulled off his hunting-shirt,the embroidered pouch attracted their attention. One of them seized it,and drew forth its contents--which proved to be _a pipe-head of the redclay-stone_--the celebrated steatite. As soon as the savage set hiseyes upon it, he uttered a strange exclamation, and handed it to hiscompanion. The latter took it into his hands, uttered a similarejaculation, and carrying it with him, ran back to the crowd. These, assoon as it reached them, could be seen passing it from hand to hand,each examining it minutely, and making some remark; but one Indian, morethan the rest, seemed to be excited upon beholding it; and this one,after he had gazed upon it for a moment, ran hurriedly towards Basil,followed by all the others!

  This was the opportunity which Basil wished for; and as the Indian stoodin front of him, and pointed to the pipe, as if waiting for anexplanation, the boy, his hands being now free, deliberately and withcoolness made several signs which had been taught him by his father.These signs were at once understood by the Indian, who sprang forward,pulled off the cords that bound Basil's ankles, raised him to his feet,embracing him as he did so with friendly exclamations! All the otherIndians now pressed forward, and grasped him by the hand, while some ranto Lucien and Francois, who, in a few moments, were likewise set free!

  All three were now carried to one of the tents; dry clothes were putupon them, and as soon as it could be got ready, a feast was set beforethem: so that their captors, who but the moment before were about to putthem one by one to a most cruel death, now seemed to strive with eachother which should honour them the most! The Indian, however, who hadshown so much interest at seeing the mysterious pipe-head, was allowedto take precedence in waiting upon them; and it was into his tent thatour adventurers had been carried.

  You will by this time wonder what there could be in a simple pipe-head,to have caused all this sudden and mysterious effect. I will tell youin as few words as possible.

  You have no doubt heard of the celebrated Shawano chief Tecumseh--perhaps the greatest Indian warrior that ever lived, as well as the mostremarkable of Indian statesmen. You may have heard, too, that duringthe last war between England and the United States, Tecumseh, takingadvantage of the difference between these nations, endeavoured to excitethe Indians to a general rising, for the purpose of driving all whitemen from the soil of America. Tecumseh had a brother, Elswatawa, betterknown by the name of "the Prophet." This brother was to the full asenthusiastic as the chief himself in the wish to carry out their greatdesign; and for this purpose he undertook a crusade to every tribe ofIndians in the western parts of America. He was a man of great talentsand eloquence, and was received with friendship wherever he went. Thecause which he advocated was dear to all Indians; and of course he waslistened to, and smoked the _calumet_ with the men of every tribe. Nowthis very calumet, which had been used by the Prophet throughout all hiswanderings, was the identical one which Basil carried, and which, by itsstrange carvings and hieroglyphics, was at once recognised by theseIndians, who were of the Osage tribe,--one of those which the Prophethad visited.

  But you will ask, how this calumet came into the possession of Basil'sfather, and why its possession insured such mysterious protection to ouradventurers. That I can also explain. Tecumseh was killed in the warwith the Americans; but the Prophet lived for many years afterwards.Shortly after having emigrated to America, during one of his excursionsnear Saint Louis, the Colonel--the father of our boy hunters--met withthis strange Indian; and, through some circumstances which happened, theFrenchman and he became fast friends. Presents were exchanged betweenthem, and that which was received by the latter was the _red calumet_.The Prophet, on giving it, told the Colonel, that if ever he should haveoccasion to wander among the Indian tribes, it might prove useful tohim; and at the same time initiated him into certain signs which he wasto make use of in such time of need. In these signs the Colonel hadinstructed Basil, and we have already witnessed their effect. TheIndian who had best understood them, and in whom they had produced thestrongest emotions, happened to be a Shawano himself--one of that verytribe to which both the Prophet and Tecumseh belonged; and which is nowbut a remnant--most of its warlike sons being either dead, or scatteredamong the nomad bands that roam over the great western prairies. Such,then, was the history of the red calumet, which had proved the protectorof our adventurous hunters.

  In a short time they were enabled to communicate with the Indians bysigns; for no people can understand such language better than Indians.The boys informed the Shawano who they were, and for what purpose theyhad ventured upon the prairies. On learning the nature of theirexpedition, the Indians were filled with astonishment as well asadmiration for the courage of these young hunters. They told thelatter, in return, that they themselves were out hunting the buffaloes--that they were now on the skirts of the great herd, and they believedthat one or two _white_ buffaloes had been seen. Furthermore, theyadded, that if the boys would remain, and hunt for a few days in companywith them, no pains should be spared to kill or capture one of theseanimals, which should be placed at the disposal of their young guests.Of course, this invitation was cheerfully accepted.

  I might narrate many more adventures that befell our _Boy Hunters_; butI fear, young reader, you are already tired of the prairies. Sufficeit, then, to say, that after some days spent in hunting with theIndians, a _white buffalo_ was at length killed, his skin taken off inthe proper manner, and, after being saturated with a _preserving_ointment, which Lucien had brought along with him, was carefully packedupon the back of the mule Jeanette. Our adventurers now bade farewellto their Indian friends, and set out on their return homewards. Theywere accompanied to the confines of Louisiana by the Shawano and severalother Indians, who there took leave of them. In due time they safelyreached the old house at Point Coupee; where I need not tell you theymet with a joyous and affectionate welcome, both from their father andthe _ex-chasseur_, Hugot. The old naturalist had gained what he wishedfor, and was as happy as man could be. He was prouder than ever of his_boy-men_--his "young Nimrods," as he now called them--and on many awinter's night by the cheerful log-fire, did he take pleasure inlistening to the story of their _adventures in search of a whitebuffalo_.

  THE END.

 
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