CHAPTER XXXII.
THE ESCAPE.
Red Cedar had seen his son tied up, from the tree where he wasconcealed. This sight suddenly stopped him; he found himself just overthe Comanche camp, in a most perilous situation, as the slightest falsemovement, by revealing his presence, would be sufficient to destroy him.Sutter and Fray Ambrosio in turn parted the branches and looked down atNathan, who certainly was far from suspecting that the persons he hadleft on the previous day were so near him.
In the meanwhile the shadows gradually invaded the clearing, and soonall objects were confounded in the gloom, which was rendered denser bythe gleam of the fires lighted from distance to distance, and which shedan uncertain light around. The squatter did not love his son; for he wasincapable of feeling affection for more than one person, and it wasconcentrated on Ellen. Nathan's life or death, regarded in the light ofpaternal love, was of very slight consequence to him; but in thesituation where his unlucky star placed him, he regretted his son, asone regrets a jolly comrade, a bold man and clever marksman--anindividual, in short, who can be relied on in a fight.
We need not here describe Red Cedar's resolute character, for the readeris acquainted with it. Under these circumstances, a strange idea crossedhis brain; and as, whenever he had formed a resolution, nothing couldstop it, and he would beard all dangers in carrying it out, Red Cedarhad resolved on delivering his son, not, we repeat through any paternallove, but to have a good rifle more, in the very probable event that heshould have to fight.
But it was not an easy matter to liberate Nathan. The young man was farfrom suspecting that at the moment he was awaiting worse than death, hisfather was only a few paces from him, preparing everything for hisflight. This ignorance might compromise the success of the daringstroke the squatter intended to attempt.
The latter, before undertaking anything, called his two companions tohim and imparted his plan to them. Sutter, adventurous and rash as hisfather, applauded the resolve. He only saw in the bold enterprise atrick to be played on his enemies, the redskins, and rejoiced, not atcarrying off his brother from among them, but at the faces they wouldcut when they came to fetch their prisoner to fasten him to the stakeand no longer found him.
Fray Ambrosio regarded the question from a diametrically opposite pointof view: their position, he said, was already critical enough, and theyought not to render it more perilous by trying to save a man whom theycould not succeed in enabling to escape, and which would hopelessly ruinthem, by informing the redskins of their presence.
The discussion between the three adventurers was long and animated, foreach obstinately held to his opinion. They could not come to anagreement; seeing which, Red Cedar peremptorily cut short all remarks bydeclaring that he was resolved to save his son, and would do so, even ifall the Indians of the Far West tried to oppose it. Before a resolutionso clearly intimated, the others could only be silent and bow theirheads, which the monk did. The trapper then prepared to carry out hisdesign.
By this time, the shades of night had enveloped the prairie in a blackwinding sheet; the moon, which was in her last quarter, would not appearbefore two in the morning; it was now about eight in the evening, andRed Cedar had six hours' respite before him, by which he intended toprofit. Under circumstances so critical as the adventurers were nowplaced, time is measured with the parsimony of the miser parting withhis treasure, for five minutes wasted may ruin everything.
The night became more and more gloomy; heavy black clouds, charged withelectricity, dashed against each other and intercepted the light of thestars; the evening breeze had risen at sunset, and whistled mournfullythrough the branches of the primaeval forest. With the exception of thesentries placed round the camp, the Indians were lying round thedecaying fires, and, wrapped in their buffalo robes, were soundlyasleep. Nathan, securely tied, slept or feigned to sleep. Two warriors,lying not far from him, and ordered to watch him, seeing their prisonerapparently so resigned to his fate, at length yielded to slumber.
Suddenly, a slight hiss, like that of the whip snake, was audible fromthe top of the tree to which the young man was fastened. He opened hiseyes with a start, and looked searchingly round him, though not makingthe slightest movement, for fear of arousing his guardians. A secondhiss, more lengthened than the first, was heard, immediately followed bya third.
Nathan raised his head cautiously, and looked up; but the night was sodark that he could distinguish nothing. At this moment, some object,whose shape it was impossible for him to guess, touched his forehead andstruck it several times, as it oscillated. This object graduallydescended, and at length fell on the young man's knees.
He stooped down and examined it.
It was a knife!
Nathan with difficulty repressed a shout of joy. He was not entirelyabandoned, then! Unknown friends took an interest in his fate, and weretrying to give him the means of escape. Hope returned to his heart; andlike a boxer, stunned for a moment by the blow he had received, hecollected all his strength to recommence the contest.
However intrepid a man may be, although if conquered by an impossibilityhe has bravely sacrificed his life, still, if at the moment of marchingto the place of punishment a gleam of hope seems to dazzle hisastonished eyes, he suddenly draws himself up--the image of death iseffaced from his mind, and he fights desperately to regain that lifewhich he had so valiantly surrendered. This is what happened to Nathan;he gradually sat up, with his eyes eagerly fixed on his still motionlessguards.
My readers must pardon the following trifling detail, but it is too trueto be passed over. When the first hiss was heard, the young man wassnoring, though wide awake; he now continued the monotonous melody whichlulled his keepers to sleep. There was something most striking in theappearance of this man, who, with eyes widely open, frowning brow,features painfully contracted by hope and fear, was cutting through thecords that fastened his elbows to the tree, while snoring as quietly asif he were enjoying the quietest sleep.
After considerable efforts, Nathan managed to cut through the ligatures;the rest was nothing, as his hands were at liberty. In a few seconds hewas completely freed from his bonds, and seized the knife, which hethrust into his girdle. The cord that let it down was then drawn upagain.
Nathan waited in a state of indescribable agony. He had returned to hisold position, and was snoring. All at once one of his guardians turnedtowards him, moved his limbs, stiffened with cold, rose and bent overhim with a yawn. Nathan, with half-closed, eyes, carefully watched hismovements. When he saw the redskin's face only two inches from his own,with a gesture swift as thought, he threw his hands round his neck, andthat so suddenly that the Comanche, taken unawares, had not the time toutter a cry.
The American was endowed with Herculean strength, which the hope ofdeliverance doubled at this moment. He squeezed the warrior's neck as ina vice; and the latter struggled in vain to free himself from thisdeadly pressure. The bandit's iron hands drew tighter and tighter with aslow, deliberate, but irresistible pressure. The Indian, his eyessuffused with blood, his features horribly contracted, beat the air twoor three times mechanically, made one convulsive effort, and thenremained motionless. He was dead.
Nathan held him for two or three minutes, to be quite certain that allwas over, and then laid the warrior by his side, in a position thatadmirably resembled sleep. He then passed his hand over his forehead towipe away the icy perspiration, and raised his eyes to the tree, butnothing appeared there. A frightful thought then occupied the young man;suppose his friends, despairing of saving him, had abandoned him? Ahorrible agony contracted his chest.
Still, he had recognised his father's signal: the hiss of the whip snakehad been long employed by them to communicate under perilouscircumstances. His father was not the man to leave any work he had begunundone, whatever the consequences might be. And yet the moments slippedaway one after the other, and nothing told the wretch that men were atwork for his deliverance; all was calm and gloomy.
Nearly half an hour passed
thus. Nathan was a prey to feverishimpatience and a terror impossible to describe. Up to the present, itwas true, no one in camp had perceived the unusual movement he had beenobliged to make, but an unlucky chance might reveal his plans for flightat any moment; to effect this, an Indian aroused by the sharp cold needonly pass by him while trying to restore the circulation of his blood bya walk.
As his friends forgot him, the young man resolved to get out of theaffair by himself. In the first place, he must get rid of his secondwatcher, and then he would settle what next to do. Hence, stillremaining on the ground, he slowly crawled toward the second warrior. Heapproached him inch by inch, so insensible and deliberate were hismovements! At length he arrived scarce two paces from the warrior, whosetranquil sleep told him that he could act without fear. Nathan drewhimself up, and bounding like a jaguar, placed his knee on the Indian'schest, while with his left hand he powerfully clutched his throat.
The Comanche, suddenly awakened, made a hurried movement to free himselffrom this fatal pressure, and opened his eyes wildly, as he lookedround in terror. Nathan, without uttering a word, drew his knife andburied it in the Indian's heart, while still holding him by the throat.The warrior fell back as if struck by lightning, and expired withoututtering a cry or giving a sigh.
"I don't care," the bandit muttered, as he wiped the knife, "it is afamous weapon. Now, whatever may happen, I feel sure of not dyingunavenged."
Nathan, when he found his disguise useless, had asked leave to put onhis old clothes, which was granted. By a singular chance, the Indian hestabbed had secured his game bag and rifle, which the young man at oncetook back. He gave a sigh of satisfaction at finding himself again inpossession of objects so valuable to him, and clothed once more in hiswood ranger's garb.
Time pressed; he must be off at all risks, try to foil the sentries, andquit the camp. What had he to fear in being killed? If he remained, heknew perfectly well the fate that awaited him; hence the alternative wasnot doubtful; it was a thousandfold better to stake his life bravely ina final contest, than wait for the hour of punishment.
Nathan looked ferociously around, bent forward, listened, and silentlycocked his rifle. The deepest calm continued to prevail around.
"Come," the young man said, "there can be no hesitation; I must be off."
At this moment the hiss of the whip snake was again audible.
Nathan started.
"Oh, oh!" he said, "It seems that I am not abandoned as I fancied."
He lay down on the ground again and crawled back to the tree to which hehad been fastened. A lasso hung down to the ground, terminating in oneof those double knots which sailors call "chairs," one half of whichpasses under the thighs, while the other supports the chest.
"By jingo!" Nathan muttered joyfully, "Only the old man can have suchideas. What a famous trick we are going to play those dogs of redskins!They will really believe me a sorcerer; for I defy them to find mytrail."
While talking thus to himself, the American had seated himself in thechair. The lasso drawn by a vigorous hand, rapidly ascended, and Nathansoon disappeared among the thick foliage of the larch tree. When hereached the first branches, which were about thirty feet from theground, the young man removed the lasso, and in a few seconds rejoinedhis comrades.
"Ouf!" he muttered, as he drew two or three deep breaths, while wipingthe perspiration from his face; "I can now say I have had a luckyescape, thanks to you; for, deuce take me, without you, I had beendead."
"Enough of compliments," the squatter sharply answered; "we have no timeto waste in that nonsense. I suppose you are anxious to be off?"
"I should think so; in which direction are we going?"
"Over there," Red Cedar answered, holding his arm out in the directionof the camp.
"The devil!" Nathan sharply objected, "Are you mad, or did you pretendto save my life, merely to deliver me to our enemies with your ownhands?"
"What do you mean?"
"Something you would see as well as I, if it were day; the forestsuddenly terminates a few yards from here on the edge of an immensequebrada."
"Oh, oh," Red Cedar said, with a frown; "what is to be done in thatcase?"
"Return by the road you came for about half a league, and then go to theleft. I have seen enough of the country since I left you to have aconfused resemblance of the shape of the mountain, but, as you say, themain point at this moment is to be off from here?"
"The more so, as the moon will soon rise," Sutter observed, "and if theredskins perceived Nathan's escape, they would soon find our trail."
"Well said," Nathan replied, "let us be off."
Red Cedar placed himself once more at the head of the small party, andthey turned back. Progress was extremely difficult in this black night;they were obliged to grope, and not put down their foot till they werecertain the support was solid. If they did not, they ran a risk offalling and being dashed on the ground, at a depth of seventy or eightyfeet.
They had scarcely gone three hundred yards in this way, when a frightfulclamour was heard behind them: a great light illumined the forest, andbetween the leaves the fugitives perceived the black outlines of theIndians running in every direction, gesticulating and yellingferociously.
"Hilloh," Red Cedar said, "I fancy the Comanches have found out yourdesertion."
"I think so, too," Nathan replied, with a grin; "poor fellows! They areinconsolable at my loss."
"The more so, because you probably did not quit them without leavingyour card."
"Quite true, father," the other said, as he raised his hunting shirt anddisplayed two bloody scalps suspended to his girdle; "I did not neglectbusiness."
The wretch, before fastening the lasso round him, had, with horriblecoolness, scalped his two victims.
"In that case," Fray Ambrosio said, "they must be furious; you know thatthe Comanches never forgive. How could you commit so unworthy anaction?"
"Trouble yourself about your own affairs, senor Padre," Nathan said,brutally, "and let me act as I think proper, unless you wish me to sendyou to take my place with the butt end of my rifle."
The monk bit his lips.
"Brute beast!" he muttered.
"Come, peace, in the devil's name!" Red Cedar said; "let us think aboutnot being caught."
"Yes," Sutter supported him, "when you are in safety, you can have anexplanation with knives, like true caballeros. But, at this moment, wehave other things to do than quarrel like old women."
The two men exchanged a glance full of hatred, but remained silent. Thelittle party, guided by Red Cedar, gradually retired, pursued by theyells of the Comanches, who constantly drew nearer.
"Can they have discovered our track?" Red Cedar said, shaking his headsadly.