The lieutenant now explained that his plan was to mount the shoulders ofHabakkuk McEwen, and thus reach a projection on the rocks, by the helpof which he hoped to attain a still higher point, or rather shelf, fromwhich it would be an easy matter to climb to the level ground above, andpush their way toward the distant Delaware River.
The feat was too difficult for the rest of the party to accomplish,which explains why the grape-vine became so necessary. With the aid ofthat, and with Fred tugging above, there was reason to hope that theascent would be made with little trouble.
Accordingly, Habakkuk McEwen, without any protest, stood up against thewall, and Fred, with gun and vine secured, so as to leave his limbsfree, mounted to his shoulders with the ease of an acrobat.
Then, straightening himself, he groped about with his hands, and wasfortunate in finding a broad ledge within easy grasp. It was a difficultmatter, even with such help, to draw himself up, but by great care hemanaged to do so, and then found that by a similar maneuver he couldreach the ground above, where the way was clear to the woods.
This was gratifying, and, dropping the end of the vine to his friends,he whispered for Mr. Brainerd to seize it and to begin to climb.
It was a hard task, and, had the support given way, doubtless the oldgentleman would have been killed or grievously hurt, but he struggledand was pushed up by Habakkuk, and the vine was tugged at by Fred above,until at last the panting father reached the ledge and stood beside hisson.
"It was a hard task."]
As there were now two to use their strength in lifting, Aunt Peggy, Eva,and Maggie had but to grasp the support, when they were drawn up withoutany effort on their own part. Habakkuk came last, and he tried so hardto assist, that it may be said he went up feet first, sawing the air sovigorously with his legs that they appeared on the ledge before his bodyreached it.
But the fugitives were all there at last, and something like genuinehope began to stir every member of the company.
"Now," said Fred, "we have the same experience to go through, and weshall reach solid ground above. I will go up as before."
Only a small part of the moonlight found its way to the spot where theywere crouching, and they felt it would not do to stay longer.
Slowly and carefully Fred went up the rocks, and all saw him safelyreach the level ground, where he vanished.
At the instant he did so they caught a peculiar sound, as though aslight struggle was going on, but it instantly ceased, and, though thefriends were alarmed, they said nothing, thinking that perhaps Fred hadstumbled over some obstruction in the dark.
"_St, st!_"
The signal which he made before reassured all, and drove the thought ofdanger from their minds.
The same order was repeated; Mr. Brainerd grasped the vine, and, helpedboth above and below, gradually surged upward until he, too, went overthe edge of the ravine, as it may be called, and vanished.
Maggie started, when she again heard a curious movement above, as ifmade by a scuffle, and her heart throbbed with the suspicion thatsomething was wrong.
"I tell you," she whispered, "there's trouble up there."
"No, there isn't," replied Aunt Peggy, "I suppose--there!"
The same sibilant call as before was repeated, and the elderly ladyshowed her faith in her own assertion by catching hold of the vine, andallowing herself to be pulled up as her predecessor had been.
Maggie and Eva were left with Habakkuk, who was plainly nervous, thoughit might be hard for him to explain why.
"Do you feel skeart?" he asked, in an undertone, as the rope of naturalgrowth came dangling about their heads.
"Yes," said the elder sister; "didn't you notice a strange noise afterFred and father got up?"
"I don't know, but there is something queer; they don't seem to showthemselves after they reach the top; it looks to me as if they tumbledover into some hole--ah!"
As the signal was heard the three looked up and caught the dim outlinesof a head. There was not enough light to identify it, but had themoonlight fallen upon it, those who stood below would have observed thatthe face did not belong to any one of their three friends.
With misgiving, Maggie grasped the support and went up; then Evafollowed, and, last of all. Habakkuk McEwen stood alone.
He paused in doubt a minute or so, but when the vine swung within hisreach, he seized it, muttering:
"I may as well follow the crowd."
And he did.
The instant he arrived at the top he was seized by several SenecaIndians, and the astounding truth then dawned upon him that not only he,but every one of the party, had climbed squarely into the trap set forthem, and, without a single exception, were prisoners in the hands ofthe very red men they were trying with so much skill to avoid.
CHAPTER XXIX.
It will be admitted that the little party of fugitives whose fortunes weare following displayed great skill in escaping the Tories and Indians,who, on that "day of desolation," wrought such ruin in the WyomingValley.
A wonderful good fortune attended them up to a certain point, and yetthe humiliating truth must also be admitted, that, from the moment theyrushed pell mell into the friendly cavern in the rocks, they wereoutgeneraled by the Senecas, under the leadership of the Tory, JakeGolcher.
It looked, for a time, as if the success of the patriots was to becrowned by the most brilliant achievement of all, in stealing out of theravine under the very noses, so to speak, of their vigilant enemies; andyet, despite their caution and well-directed audacity, which neveroverreached themselves, every movement, even to the slightest, wasknown to the redskins, who carried out their own scheme with evengreater subtlety and skill.
When Fred Godfrey reached the ground above he detected nothingsuspicious, and, making the vine secure, turned and signaled to hisfriends to follow him.
It was at that instant he was seized by two powerful warriors, one ofwhom threw his arm about his neck, and jerking his head back, nearlystrangled him. The lieutenant was caught at such disadvantage that hewas helpless, but he struggled with all the strength possible, andattempted to utter a cry of warning to his friends.
But his hands were pinioned behind him, a dusky palm was glued over hismouth, and some one said in very good English:
"If you speak a word, you're a dead man!"
He was dragged back into the wood, where his wrists and elbows were tiedwith as much care as if he were worth all the other prisoners taken thatday in Wyoming.
It required but a few seconds to complete this performance, and whileit was going on two other Senecas were tugging away at the vine, towhich Mr. Brainerd was clinging.
The old gentleman was altogether unsuspicious, and he came sprawlingover on the ground with considerable emphasis.
"I don't see the necessity of yanking a fellow out of his boots," helaughed, in a guarded voice. "It will hardly do to be so ardent with theothers--"
At that point in his remarks he was pounced upon, and served very nearlythe same as his son. He fought as fiercely: but the Indians wereprepared for it. He was run back in the wood behind the lieutenant, andthe two condoled with each other--their chagrin being inexpressible.
Then came Aunt Peggy, whose figure was so light compared with that ofMr. Brainerd, that she was literally whisked to the top of the ground,seeming to drop from some point above.
"Maggie said there was something wrong," remarked the voluble lady; "butI'm sure there wasn't anything very queer that I heard If there are anyof them Injins anywhere in the neighborhood I'd just like the chance--"
The wish of the lady was gratified, for at that moment two figuresappeared beside her, as if they had sprung through a trap-door: and one,who was gifted with an exceptional amount of waggery, actually leanedover and kissed her cheek.
"You scand'lous villain!" gasped Aunt Peggy, too much horrified to speakabove a whisper: "ain't you ashamed of yourself?"
With which exclamation she struck him on the side of the face, with avicious vigor
that gave out a report like the crack of a pistol.
"I'll teach you how to insult a lady--"
Her words were stopped at this point by a dusky hand that was pressedover her mouth and held there despite her frantic struggles, and she wasforced back to where her two friends were prisoners.
Maggie Brainerd went up the rocks with much distrust, as will beremembered, and, as it was, she was so suspicious that she would nothave gone at all but for the fact that father and brother had precededher, and no matter what their fate must be, she wished to share it withthem.
"If they have fallen into the hands of the Indians, I have no wish toremain away from them."
She peered into the gloom as sharply as she could and was not kept insuspense.
She offered no resistance, and quickly joined those who were overtakenby disaster.
It was much the same with Eva, although she struggled with great energyand narrowly escaped violence, as did Aunt Peggy, when she chastised theaudacious Seneca.
Habakkuk McEwen, as we have stated, was in a quandary, but he ascended,his feet going over the ledge first. Such an approach to a foe is notdisquieting, and he was caught at greater disadvantage than any of theothers.
He tried hard to throw himself over the rocks, but was prevented; andthus it was that the capture of the entire party was completed.
"Great Caesar!" exclaimed Habakkuk, as he joined his friends. "Theheight, and length, and breadth, and depth of this failure is the moststupend'us I ever heerd tell of."
And no one said him nay.
CHAPTER XXX.
It is necessary at this point that some attention should be given to thepredecessor of our friends in captivity--Gravity Gimp.
The particulars of his capture will be recalled, it being somewhatsimilar to that of his followers, inasmuch as he was pounced upon andoverwhelmed before he could make any effectual resistance, though, for atime, he kept things "moving."
But he was forced to succumb at last, and was led away by those whom hehad fought so bravely, and into whose hands he dreaded falling aware ashe was what fate awaited him.
"Be keerful," he called out, limping heavily, "I've got a game leg, andI want yer to play light on it."
Whether they understood his words or not is a small matter; but theAmerican Indian is accustomed to the language of gesture, and when theAfrican limped forward, as though unable to bear half the weight on onelimb, they could not mistake what it meant.
The gun of the captive was taken from him, and, as he was such amiserable pedestrian just then, his hands were not bound behind him, aswas the case with the prisoners afterwards taken.
Ordinarily, the rough usage given his captors during the struggle wouldhave resulted in serious injury to some of them; but the Iroquois weretoo sinewy, lithe, and graceful on their feet to fare ill, and theygathered about him, with something akin to admiration, when he wasconducted farther into the mountain, where they had a large camp-fireburning.
"I s'pose eberybody makes mistakes," muttered Gravity, moving slowlyalong; "leastways I'm purty sartin I made a wery big one, when I got toocur'us to know what dese willains was up to."
No indignity was offered him on the walk to the fire, which was burninga couple of hundred yards away, but he felt that nothing like mercy wasto be expected from his captors.
The negro had proven his coolness and courage in more than one instancethat day, and Maggie Brainerd asked herself whether the loyal fellowreally knew what fear is.
But when Gimp reached the camp-fire, and saw Jake Golcher with otherIndians grouped around him, his heart gave a throb of terror.
He knew that wretch too well to make any mistake concerning him. It wasGimp who, but a few hours before, had visited the worst kind of physicalindignity on the Tory, who now possessed the chance to repay him.
Jake was sitting on a fallen tree, leaning forward with his elbows onhis knees, and his chin in his hands, looking into the glowing embers,and apparently only half listening to the guttural conversation going onamong the Indians about him.
He had spent so much time with the Seneca branch of the Iroquois, thathe understood their tongue quite well. But, as he slowly puffed at hisshort clay pipe, his thoughts were far away.
Most likely he was recalling the incidents of the day, that were asource of mixed pleasure and pain to him.
"The overthrow of the rebels was complete," he muttered, his facelighting up with passion. "It'll be a good many years before Wyomingwill get over this, and I've got even with a lot of them that hain'tused me well. There's Parker, who called me a lazy loafer two years ago,because I wouldn't pay him a little money I had borrowed. Well, Isettled up with him to-day, and he'll never call anybody else such adisrespectful name agin.
"Then there's Sam Williams, that I used to go out hunting with, and whowas considered a pretty good chap by some folks. He used to lend memoney, and never cared whether I paid him back or not; but he undertookto lecture me once on my dooty, and said, if I didn't go to work, Inever would be anybody, I've got too much spirit to stand any suchinsults as that, and, when I come on him to-day, I settled with him."
Dreadful thoughts were these to find such expression, and the renegadewas silent a minute, until it seemed as if Satan got still a strongerhold upon him.
"But there's _one_ man close by that I would give a thousand prisonersfor," he added, puffing spitefully at his pipe, "and it looks as if I'mgoing to have him. Providence does favor the truly good," added themiscreant. "I've got the whole party penned up in a hole, and if theyget away from us it will be the biggest thing of the kind ever done inthese parts.
"I want to get hold of that Gimp, that stole my gun and gave me such akicking that I feel six inches taller than ever before, and have to bemighty careful about settin' down. He's a sort of giant, but if we layhands on him there'll be mighty little of him left when we get through.
"There's Maggie Brainerd, the prettiest gal that ever left Connecticutand settled in the Wyoming Valley. I knowed her when she was a littleone, and then she was so purty that people used to stop her in the road,to kiss and admire her.
"She always acted kind toward me, and I used to think she was kindertender and loving, and I b'leve now I might have got her, if thathalf-brother of hers, Fred Godfrey, hadn't come along and set her aginme."
The brows of the Tory contracted at the recollection of something thatburned in his memory.
"A year ago, he was down here in the valley, and I feared there wasn'tmuch chance for me with Maggie, so I thought I would shame him beforethe town to that extent he would never show his face in it again. He wastalkin' in the store to a lot of our neighbors, and had enlisted, and hethought every young chap oughter. I said I didn't b'leve he had enoughcourage to fire a gun at a red coat, when he said he had enough to fireme out, if I didn't keep a civil tongue in my head.
"That's just what I wanted, for I had been building up my muscle for twoweeks, with the very idee of whalin' him, and I sailed in.
"Wal," added the Tory, with a sigh, "the fight was over afore I'd fairlygot into it. I come out of the winder with a sash round my neck, and ifI hadn't struck agin Aunt Peggy, who was walkin' by, my neck would havebeen broken off short. I didn't get over that lambastin' for a month,but Fred Godfrey little thought when he jined the crowd in laughin' atme, that he had sealed his doom."
The face of the Tory flushed, for he was sure that he had the bestreason to believe that he spoke the truth.
CHAPTER XXXI.
"Yes," added Jake, with a sigh of something like pleasure; "it looksvery much as though I've got a chance to even up my accounts with 'emall. The folks are having a good time on t'other side the river, andto-morrer, when Forty Fort surrenders, Wyoming will be wiped out soclean that the only way of telling where it has been will be by theashes.
"I've got a lot of the best Senecas that ever took the war-path, andI've promised them the biggest kind of a reward if they succeed inscooping in the whole party. Queen Esther told 'em to go with me
and dojust as I directed, so they're bound to show the stuff they're made of.Gray Panther is their chief, and he's directing 'em, and he beats anyInjin I ever heard tell of for downright cunning, and is as good as abloodhound on the trail."
Thus it was that, although Jake Golcher was the nominal head of the warparty, the renowned chief, Gray Panther, was guiding operations, and itis to that remarkable Seneca Indian that the success of the redskins inout-generaling the fugitives was due.
"I know that Maggie came near pegging out with a broken heart when hermother died, three years ago," continued Golcher, "and she is soattached to her father, brother, and sister, that she will do anythingin her power to save harm coming to them."
This fact could not fail to suggest the course that had taken shape inhis mind long before.
"We will capture them all; then I'll make known my terms: Maggie mustagree to marry me; she will do it, too, if she makes the promise, andI'll agree to let all the rest go. I'll keep my word so far as the oldman and Eva, and I guess the Aunt Peggy, is concerned; but there's twothat I'll wipe out--Fred Godfrey and that Gravity Gimp.
"I may have to promise to let up on 'em, but I can fix it with GrayPanther, so they'll be _accidentally_ killed; but I'll never feel easytill they're both underground. As for that nigger--" And taking out hispipe, he ground his teeth together, and clenched the fingers of the freehand, and then, looking up, saw Gravity Gimp, the African, standingbefore him.