XXXVI HOW BLAISE MISSED HIS REVENGE
The rain came down in torrents. Thunder pealed and crashed, and Hugh, aroaring in his head, his whole body shaking convulsively, lay on his faceamong the bushes. A hand seized his shoulder and instantly he came tohimself. He started up and reached for the knife he had borrowed fromBaptiste, then knew it was his half-brother who was speaking.
"Quick," Blaise whispered. "Follow me close."
The rain was lessening, the thunder peals were not so deafening. From thebeach below came the sound of voices. With bitterness, Hugh realized thathe and Blaise had delayed too long. The Indians had reached the one canoeand had discovered that the other was missing.
"They are going to get away. We must do something to stop Ohrante atleast."
"Ohrante is stopped, I think," Blaise replied quietly. "I go to see." Andhe wriggled through the dripping bushes.
Hugh followed close on his younger brother's heels. Out from the shelterof the trees into the open space the two crawled. Where the fire hadblazed there was now only smoke. A flash of lightning illuminated thespot. It seemed utterly deserted except for one motionless form. Withouthesitation the brothers crept across the open, no longer single file, butside by side. The thing they had caught sight of when the lightningflashed, lay outstretched and partly hidden by the cloud of smoke fromthe quenched fire. As they drew near, there was another bright flash.There lay the giant figure of Ohrante the Mohawk, his head among theblackened embers, his broad chest battered to a shapeless mass by thesharp fore hooves of the frenzied moose. Hugh was glad that the flash oflight lasted but an instant. The merciful darkness blotted out thehorrible sight. He turned away sickened.
The report of a musket, another and another, shouts and yells andsplashings, came from the channel between island and mainland.
"The men from the Grand Portage," cried Hugh. "They have come just intime. Not all of Ohrante's rascals will escape."
He ran down the open lane, Blaise after him. The flashes and reports, theshouts and cries, proved that a battle was on. The black shapes of canoesfilled with men were distinguishable on the water. A pale flash of thenow distant lightning revealed to the lads one craft close in shore. Itcontained but one man.
"Keneu," Hugh called.
The Indian had seen the boys. He swerved the canoe towards the line oflow bushes at the foot of the gap, and Hugh and Blaise ran out into thewater to step aboard. The yells and musket shots had ceased. The fightseemed to be over. But another canoe was coming in towards the islandbeach. Did that boat hold friends or enemies?
"Hola, Hugh Beaupre," a familiar voice called. "Where are you?"
"Here, Baptiste, all right, both of us," Hugh shouted in reply.
"Thank the good God," Baptiste ejaculated fervently.
The canoe came on and made a landing on the beach. Hugh, Blaise and Keneubeached their craft near by.
"Did you catch those fellows?" Hugh asked eagerly.
"We sunk their canoe and some are drowned. Others may have reached shore.The rest of our men have gone over there to search. But where is Ohrante?We have seen nothing of him. Is he still on this isle?"
"Yes, he is here," Hugh replied, a little shudder convulsing his body."But Ohrante is no longer to be feared."
"He is dead? Who killed him? One of you?" Baptiste glanced quickly fromone lad to the other.
"No, the victim he was torturing killed him."
"Another victim? What became of him? Did he escape?"
"He escaped. By now he is probably in safety."
"Good! Then we have----"
A shout from the top of the island interrupted Baptiste. The other menfrom the canoe, who had scattered to search for any of Ohrante's band whomight be in hiding, had discovered the body. The boys and Baptiste wentup to join them, and Hugh described what he had seen and how the Chief ofMinong had come to his death.
"A frightful fate truly, but he brought it upon himself by torturing thebeast," the Frenchman exclaimed. "But how was it they had a captivemoose? Surely they did not bring it across from the Isle Royale?"
"No." It was Blaise who spoke. "Keneu says the men from the mainlandbrought the moose. Keneu saw the beast tied to a tree at their camp. Itwas a two year old and seemed tame. He thought it had been raised incaptivity. They brought it to kill for a feast. Hugh and I saw it swimacross behind their canoe."
"Ohrante had no human captive to torture." Hugh shuddered again,realizing that he himself had been the intended victim. "He had no man topractice his cruelty upon, so he used the animal. What a fiend the fellowwas!"
Not one of Ohrante's band was found on the island. The sudden fall oftheir chief had so appalled them that they had fled, every man of them,to the beach and had crowded into the one remaining canoe. Theexplanation of Ohrante's fate was clear. The lightning had struck the topof the tall birch. The young moose, already wild with pain and fright,was driven to utter frenzy by the crash and shock. It had burst its bondsand plunged straight at its nearest tormentor, knocking him into thefire, stamping upon his body with its sharp hooves, and then dashing forthe lake and freedom. A terrible revenge the crotch horn had taken.
Hugh's plan had been to sink one canoe and steal the other, leaving theChief of Minong and his followers marooned on the little island. He hadhoped that the loss of the boats would not be discovered before morning.Then the besieging party could demand the surrender of Ohrante, promisinghis followers, if necessary, that they should go free if they woulddeliver up their chief. Even if they refused, there seemed no chance forOhrante to get away. Before he could build canoes, the attacking partycould easily raise a force sufficient to rush the island. If members ofthe band should attempt to swim the channel or cross it on a raft, theywould be at the mercy of the besiegers. Sooner or later the giant and hismen would be compelled to yield.
In accordance with this plan, the boys had set out to make away withOhrante's canoes. When ample time to carry out the manoeuvre had passed,and they did not return, Baptiste had grown anxious. The sounds of thewar dance and the bellows of the captive moose, carrying across thewater, had increased his alarm. The men from the Grand Portage arrivingjust before the storm broke, Baptiste signalled them and they heldthemselves in readiness to go to the rescue of the lads. The watchers sawthe lightning strike the island. They heard the tumult as the frightenedIndians, believing some supernatural power had intervened to destroytheir chief, fled to the beach. At once Baptiste's men, regardless of thestorm, started for the island. A flash of lightning showed them a canoecrossing to the mainland. Attack followed and the canoe was sunk oroverturned. One boat of the attacking party put into shore to cut off theflight of any of the band who might succeed in reaching land. The otherturned to the island.
When the whole force came together at dawn, they had taken two prisonersand had found the dead bodies of two other Indians besides Ohrante. TheMohawk had brought but three men with him and four others had joined himat the island. Three were therefore unaccounted for. They might have beendrowned or they might have escaped. The important thing was that Ohrantewas dead and his band broken up.
The headlong flight of the great chief's followers was explained by oneof the prisoners. The Indians had believed the giant Iroquois invincible.He had the reputation, as Monga had said, of being a medicine man ormagician of great powers. He claimed to have had, in early youth, a dreamin which it was revealed to him that no human hand would ever strike himdown. The dream explained the boldness and rashness of his behavior. Italso threw light on his fear of powers not human. Suddenly he was felled,not by human hand indeed, but by the dreadful thunder bird and the hoovesof a beast which surely must be a spirit in disguise. The invincible wasvanquished and his followers were panic stricken. The three men Ohrantehad brought from Minong led the flight. They had seen and heard thethreatening manifestations of Nanibozho, Kepoochikan and their attendantmanitos on that island. Two of the band, the captive said, had been lefton Minon
g to guard the camp. Of them neither Hugh nor Blaise ever heardagain. Whether the Indians remained on the island or whether after a timethey returned to the mainland and learned of Ohrante's death, the ladsnever knew.
With the fate of the giant Mohawk all the attacking party were wellsatisfied except Blaise. He was so glum and silent that Hugh could notunderstand what had come over the lad. After their return to the GrandPortage, Blaise opened his heart.
"I wished to kill our father's enemy with my own hands," he confessed toHugh. "It was the duty of you or me to avenge him, and I wished for thehonor. You saw not in the darkness that I took my musket with me. When wecrept in the water below that open place, I carried the musket on my backnot to wet it. And then when I knelt among the trees and he stood therewith his arms folded, I had him in good range. But, my brother, I couldnot shoot. It was not that I feared for myself or you. No, I felt nofear. I could not shoot him unarmed and with no chance to fight for hislife. I am a fool, a coward, a disgrace to the Ojibwa nation."
"No, no, you are nothing of the kind," Hugh cried indignantly. "There isno braver lad anywhere. You are no coward, you are a white man, Blaise,and an honorable one. That is why you couldn't shoot Ohrante in the backfrom ambush. I know there are white men who do such things and feel noshame. But would father have done it, do you think? Would he?"
A little anxiously, Hugh waited for the answer. He had known his fatherso little, and Jean Beaupre had lived long among savages. The reply cameat last, slowly and thoughtfully.
"No," said the younger son, "no, our father would never have shot a manin the back."